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The Essential Calvin and Hobbes

A Calvin and Hobbes Treasury
by Bill Watterson

This book came up on swap, so I have been enjoying some chuckles, reading more Calvin and Hobbes. I noticed right away the strips in this volume are from early on: the drawing style- especially the main character\’s faces- are slightly different and Calvin is meeting Susie the girl next door for the first time. It\’s got similar subject material as later strips: arguments with parents, avoiding homework, getting bored in class, acting out his wild imagination, teasing girls, being grossed out at dinner, a kid being a kid. Really obnoxious kid, with witty comebacks and plenty of funny remarks. And of course, his tiger companion Hobbes is a charmer. I recognized most of the panels from reading these long ago when they were featured in the newspaper, but some were new to me (or I had forgotten them): the episode where Calvin is an onion in a school play about nutrition, the one where they find an injured raccoon, another serious one where Calvin and Hobbes come across a clearing in the woods for a new development, and rant about how wildlife is being displaced. I liked it.

Rating: 3/5 254 pages, 1988

Tags: 3/5- Good Read, Current Reads, Graphic Novels

The Indispensable Calvin and Hobbes

A Calvin and Hobbes Treasury
by Bill Watterson

I thoroughly enjoyed reading more Calvin and Hobbes. Calvin speculates on the realities of Santa Claus, makes terrible faces for family photos, resists bathtime, fights the babysitter, teases the girl next door mercilessly, procrastinates doing homework, imagines he\’s saving the world from distasters with superpowers, or rampaging around as a dinosaur, and argues with his more level-headed best friend tiger Hobbes. I laughed through many pages. I had forgotten the episode where the family\’s house got broken into. In this volume he starts his club against \”slimy girls\” and makes his cardboard-box duplicator. Yeah, second half of the book was suddenly a repeat-read for me that I skipped over: it\’s the entire contents of Scientific Progress Goes \”Boink\”. With the improvement that this volume has all the weekend strips in full color. So now I know which one is immediately getting weeded from my collection as a redundancy.

Rating: 3/5 255 pages, 1992

Tags: 3/5- Good Read, Current Reads, Graphic Novels

The Authoritative Calvin and Hobbes

A Calvin and Hobbes Treasury

by Bill Watterson

This thicker volume of comic strips contains all the material from previously published collections Yukon Ho! and Weirdos from Another Planet, the small print on the cover tells me. What it doesn’t mention is that it also seems to have all the color strips from Lazy Sunday Book, which I just read. I know because I instantly recognized them all and my eyes started just automatically skipping over the sunday panels in here.

Nevertheless, it was an awesome read. I enjoyed every moment- the chuckles, the dipping into philosophy and introspective thoughts on social norms- seen from a six-year-old’s viewpoint of course- the few touching moments. The struggles of parenting such a wild kid is more obvious to me, reading this as an adult. I really like the tiger’s character. I noticed this collection had a few elements missing from the earlier, simpler strips- which seemed to be all about conflicts and curiosities Calvin would encounter at home, at school, on walks in the woods. Here we have a few run-ins with a bully at school. Calvin’s torments of the neighborhood girl Susie now include showing off what he claims are gross elements in his packed lunch. His family goes camping in the rain- Calvin and his mom hate it, his dad remains optimistic and cheerful (until his glasses get broken). There’s run-ins with a babysitter (how I’d hate to be in her shoes) and Calvin starts to spout political-sounding rhetoric (polls on his dad’s popularity- as if he could vote him out of the role) and point out things like global warming and pollution. Makes it feel a bit more grown up, but still with a mischievous kid’s take on everything.

Rating: 4/5

256 pages, 1990

More opinions: the Book Bunnies
anyone else?

Tags: 4/5- Great Book, Current Reads, Graphic Novels

Phoebe and Her Unicorn

by Dana Simpson

Phoebe is a fairly ordinary fourth-grader. She wants to impress her friends, but the popular girls think she’s weird. Skipping stones one day she accidentally hits a unicorn (who is captivated by the beauty of her own reflection) and is granted a wish. She cleverly wishes for endless wishes, but that isn’t allowed, so instead she wishes the unicorn will be her best friend. Marigold Heavenly Nostrils is reluctant at first, but gradually the two become close companions. They have a lot to learn about each other- Phoebe’s ideas about unicorn magic are often mistaken, and Marigold finds humans baffling. The unicorn is really conceited yet honest and kind as well. They make an amusing pair.

It did remind me a lot of Calvin and Hobbes, and the occasional snarkiness cast my mind to Ariel as well. And delightfully, Peter S. Beagle himself wrote the introduction. For an easy, light read it has a lot of thoughtful moments, and made me laugh.

It’s a daily comic online, but I prefer to read the printed version. Happily, my library has three more volumes of the Heavenly Nostrils Chronicles, so I have a few on hold now…

Rating: 3/4

224 pages, 2014

more opinions:
Waking Brain Cells
The Joy of My Life

Tags: 3/5- Good Read, Current Reads, Fantasy / Sci Fi, Graphic Novels, Juvenile Fic

Snug Harbor Stories

A Wallace the Brave Collection (2)

by Will Henry

Love the humor. It’s like a cross between Calvin and Hobbes and Charlie Brown, in my head. And the scrawly, very expressive artwork is great. Fun lively curling lines everywhere. So unique.

Amelia tries to start a food fight at school, the boys zombie out on video games, and Spud makes himself too welcome at Wallace’s house (when his friend isn’t home). Wallace demands attention from his mom at the beach- only the lady ignoring him is not his mom. The family waffles over what ice cream flavor to order, until the shop attendant gets annoyed. Wallace and his two friends go hunting for Sasquatch, eclipsing many pages. They find an old lava lamp in a box of giveaway junk. They are awed. Wallace is more concerned about the bee than his friend, when the latter steps on the former. He dares to get close to skunks, imagines sea monsters, and is enthralled by pinball machines. His mother borrows his comic book “to make sure it’s appropriate for children” and then laughingly threatens to give him spoilers! (This is so me and my kid). Wallace gets his head stuck in a pumpkin. The kids experience thrills on a tire swing. Wallace teases his dad for loving old records. The kids confront a giant snapping turtle, bike down the steepest hill in town, and imagine themselves in outer space. And more, so much more.

Borrowed from the public library. Completed on 4/8/24.

Rating: 3/5

176 pages, 2019

More opinions:
Sparkly Pretty Briiiight
Antick Musings Superfluous Reading
My Book Abyss

Tags: 3/5- Good Read, Current Reads, Graphic Novels, Juvenile Fic

The Mysteries

by Bill Watterson and John Kascht

This book is so short it’s hard to say anything without saying everything, so

~ ~ ~ ~ SPOILER ALERT ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Yes, it’s by the same author as all the Calvin and Hobbes comic strips, but you’d never guess if you didn’t see his name on the cover.

This book was hard to understand what it’s getting at. It’s mostly pictures- muted, fading-into-the-background pictures, people with rough faces, looming trees in the darkness. Text on the opposite page just one or two lines each. It starts out looking like a medieval setting, the people are all afraid of “mysteries” in the dark forest that no one can make sense of. The king sends out knights to put an end to their fears and many perish, but finally one comes back with a captured Mystery. The people are surprised at its ordinary appearance (not shown in the illustrations) and they study it thoroughly and loose their fears. The forests are cut down and suddenly everything seems to have progressed, with modern-looking cityscapes, vehicles, etc. Then looming symptoms of environmental disaster and climate change. People worry but the ruler shrugs off their concerns with reassurances. And then- what? One page says people are alarmed but too late- and the next show the planet in space and declares that eons have passed. Nothing about if the people died or what, but a final note that other things continued on. Unsettling- but I suspect it was supposed to be. I feel that I didn’t like this book very much, but I can’t quite stop thinking about it!

Borrowed from the public library.

Rating: 2/5

72 pages, 2023

More opinions:
Witty and Sarcastic Book Club
Comic Ally
Irresponsible Reader
the Quill to Live
the Book Bunnies

Tags: 2/5- Just Okay, Current Reads, Graphic Novels

Homicidal Psycho Jungle Cat

A Calvin and Hobbes Collection
by Bill Watterson

I lingered over this one because it\’s the last of my Calvin and Hobbes books until I find a few more volumes. More nostalgic stuff of childhood: decoding secret messages, imagining grand schemes. First half is a lot of christmas glory and social commentary (or criticism of his parents) presented in snowman artwork. Calvin\’s dad shows himself to be an avid cyclist and takes the family camping- which both Calvin and his mom resent. The kid for his part gets regular thrills careening down slopes on a sled in winter, in a red wagon during the warm months. I cracked a smile at how Susie the girl-next-door calmly thwarts his plans to clobber her with snowballs, water balloons or some other kind of ambush. Their attempts to \”play house\” together, shown in a different comic art style, are hilarious. The larger horizontal format does make this book awkward to handle in softcover and I don\’t know if it adds much to appreciating the artwork as there are rather wide page margins.

Rating: 3/5 175 pages, 1994

Tags: 3/5- Good Read, Current Reads, Graphic Novels

Scientific Project Goes “Boink”

A Calvin and Hobbes Collection
by Bill Watterson

Six-year-old Calvin is pretty much a self-centered, lazy, conceited brat of a kid. With violent tendencies. So why does he crack me up so much. I think I enjoyed this volume a little better than the last one, because it had quite a few little story arcs through several strips in a row, presented in sequence. In the last collection it seemed like they were more randomly presented, with gaps. Maybe only favorites were selected for that one? There\’s also a good sense of time- a big chunk of the book is during winter- seems it\’s Calvin\’s favorite season, for the snowball-fight and sledding opportunities. Also he makes some very disturbing \”artistic\” tableaux with snowmen. I think some of the funniest episodes in here are when Calvin turns a cardboard box into a \’duplicator\’ and makes copies of himself. He thinks it will get him out of chores and homework, but their troublemaking gets him into trouble. He has more confrontations with the babysitter. His parents ploys to deal with him are pretty amusing too- mom telling him dinner is made of bug parts so he\’ll want to eat it, for example. His dad\’s made-up explanations for scientific things- just messing with the kid- are pretty funny too. And it\’s been so long since I read any of these comics I had completely forgotten a few parts- the one where Calvin and his stuffed tiger play a game of Scrabble made me laugh. I happen to commiserate with his difficulties playing on a baseball team. I was no good at that sport, either.

Rating: 4/5 128 pages, 1991

Tags: 4/5- Great Book, Current Reads, Graphic Novels

Lazy Sunday Book

Calvin and Hobbes
by Bill Watterson

I had almost forgotten how much I like this cartoon. It was one of my favorites back in the days I used to read newspaper strips every week. I was almost afraid to try Calvin and Hobbes again after my disappointment with recent Phoebe and Her Unicorn– maybe this one would also have lost its charm for me. Happily, nope!

For those of you who don\’t know (my kids didn\’t- they kept asking me why I was chuckling over \”that dinosaur book\” as my six-year-old referred to it, seeing the back cover) Calvin is six and his constant companion is a stuffed tiger, who in his imagination is larger-than-life and very real. Calvin is constantly getting into all kinds of trouble for his high energy level, creative imagination, sarcastic and matter-of-fact arguments with adults, refusal to follow rules he thinks are nonsensical, resistance to things like baths, cleaning his room, doing homework, etc. I think my favorite aspect about the comic strips is not just Calvin\’s spunky, vibrant character but the way his daydreams are depicted- drawn in a more realistic, dramatic style you can always tell when you\’re inside his head. Of course, he\’s not at all a nice kid- he teases a neighborhood girl mercilessly, criticizes his parents, depicts his teacher as a hideous monster, always wants to pummel people or dunk them with water balloons, etc. But- he\’s just a kid. Glorious, riotous kid. How quickly any game with his tiger devolves into an all-out fight- hilarious. He makes me laugh.

The only disappointment I had, is that I probably won\’t keep this book. I noticed right away when I started reading the next Watterson collection on my nightstand, The Authoritative Calvin and Hobbes, that all the sunday panels in this volume are reprinted in the next. So I don\’t know what\’s the point. (Except that wiki tells me the Spaceman Spiff storyline is unique to this book). Seems like if I acquire all the Treasuries, I won\’t need as many volumes on my shelf to have a full collection.

Rating: 4/5 128 pages, 1989

more opinions:
Bonnie\’s Books

Tags: 3/5- Good Read, Current Reads, Graphic Novels

Razzle Dazzle Unicorn

Phoebe and Her Unicorn #4

by Dana Simpson

It\’s nice to have a slew of fun, easy reads sometimes. I\’m still enjoying these unicorn comics. More adventures of Phoebe and her best-friend unicorn Marigold Heavenly Nostrils. Quirky, amusing combination of reality and fantasy, poking gentle fun at stereotypical ideas regarding girls who love unicorns. Phoebe is definitely a nerd and into things like role-playing games, but she also likes girly stuff on occasion too. She\’s not a flat character at all. (A nice touch is the variety of hairstyles and clothing she sports in the comics, there\’s even a \”breaking the fourth wall\” moment in one of the strips where she makes a comment about how most comic book characters always look the same- as if they never change their clothes. Haha.) She goes through all kinds of usual kid trials- facing tests at school, popular kids teasing her, misunderstandings with her friends (but never with the unicorn- they question each others\’ ideas and poke fun at human/unicorn characteristics, but never yet have I seen them have an argument!), generation gap moments with her parents, summer camp. But also things like meeting the monster in the lake again, and another new unicorn (this one is pronounced plain though he doesn\’t really look it). Helping out her frenemy with a goblin problem. I think my favorite bits were the part where she had to read a book for school, and the very brief joke about origami (my twelve-year-old is into that).

Borrowed from the public library. I think there\’s only four volumes published so far, so now I will have to wait for another compilation, or start following the daily strip online. Have an idea to go back and read some old Calvin and Hobbes collections I have, just for the fun of it. And the comparison, of course.

Rating: 3/5 184 pages, 2016

Tags: 3/5- Good Read, Current Reads, Fantasy / Sci Fi, Graphic Novels, Juvenile Fic

A Calvin and Hobbes Treasury

A Wallace the Brave Collection (2)

Phoebe and Her Unicorn #4

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