"It's a magical world, Hobbes, ol' buddy... let's go exploring!"

[nausicaa83]

New entry on the Reading Bingo:



For the "A Book Set In A Different Continent" square I chose Bill Watterson's The Complete Calvin and Hobbes, since I live in Europe and Calvin & Hobbes is set in North America (and random distant planets).

I first read Calvin & Hobbes a few years back, and fell in love with it instantly. It was an old torrent file of jpegs of all the strips, but the quality wasn't great, just what you'd find on go-comics. I'd been wanting to buy the complete collection for a while, and then a couple of weeks ago I watched Dear Mr Watterson and that convinced me to buy it. I'm so glad I did, because the quality is amazing: the colours are crisp and the strips are bigger than in the newspapers, and you can really see all the details. Plus there's a great intro by Mr Watterson himself, and the paper smells amazing. The sunday strips are worth the purchase alone, and it's truly complete, with the poems and illustrations from the books too. Not to mention I've had a bit of insomnia these past few days, and reading the strips under the covers helped a lot.

I've just finished the third volume, and I already want to start reading it all over again. It never gets old. I'm sitting here laughing just thinking of Hobbes saying "smock, smock, smock!". :D

Comments

[entangled-now.livejournal.com]

I've only ever seen Calvin and Hobbes online, little strips put up that are connected to whatever people are talking about, or to illustrate a point. But they always seem to be adorable.

I know some comic strips are full of little in-jokes, so you need to be up on their history to understand some of it. But I get the impression these two just have adventures!

[nausicaa83.livejournal.com]

Oh boy, you definitely, definitely should read it all from the beginning. It lasted ten years before Mr Watterson decided to end it, so it's not long at all. And all the strips are little gems. Here's the first strip (http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2007/01/01#.U66mvvl_tp8) on GoComics, but you can definitely find a torrent collection too. There are some great arcs, like the evil snowman come to life, the aliens that want to buy the planet, the G.R.O.S.S. club, the time-machine, the duplicator, it really should be read in order to fully appreciate how awesome it is. It's never boring. *____*

[entangled-now.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I didn't know it had finished, I assumed it was one of those things that had been going forever, and was still going. Awh, I might see if I can get a hold of some then, they seem like a lot of fun :)

[nausicaa83.livejournal.com]

He did a very brave thing back then, in 1995: he decided to end the story on his own terms, when he thought he'd said everything there was to say, and he retired. He also refused any merchandising contract, thus turning his back on millions of dollars. No one has ever filmed him, there's only one picture of him available, and he first did an interview (audio, no video) for a documentary a couple of months back. He lives with his family away from the spotlight and he does paintings.

I gotta say, I respect him a lot for this. As a writer, he knew the importance of a good ending, and didn't go the way of the Peanuts. I love the Peanuts dearly (my mom used them to teach me how to read, imagine that), but after 1985 they lost all their charm, and became just boring and dull. Plus in the USA they're everywhere: any kind of merchandise, and even insurance tv spots. What the hell. At least Mr Watterson stopped this from happening to Calvin & Hobbes.

That being said, I would love a Hobbes plushie! I'm weak!

[entangled-now.livejournal.com]

You really don't see that much, people that are happy telling the story they want to tell, and then staying out of the spotlight. Especially if you make something that's so well loved, especially with children.

I bet his paintings are amazing :)

[florealpolla.livejournal.com]

Calvin e Hobbes sono adorabili, poetici e buffissimi.
Io li amo tantissimo ♥

[nausicaa83.livejournal.com]

Da una parte mi dispiace che non ci fossero quand'ero piccola, ma dall'altra parte leggerli per la prima volta da adulta mi ha dato modo di apprezzarli forse anche di più.

[space-oddity-75.livejournal.com]

Io li conosco poco, ma quello che ho letto finora mi è piaciuto. Cercherò di recuperarli prima o poi.


P.S. - sei avantissimo con il Bingo! Io invece ho poco tempo e ho letto pochissimo finora, sigh. :(

[nausicaa83.livejournal.com]

Quella icon dovrebbe essere vietata ai minori, porca vacca.

*si ricompone*

Il mio problema sono le fanfics! Negli ultimi tre mesi tra Winter Soldier e X-Men mi sono rituffata alla grande nel fandom, e ovunque mi giri ci sono fanfic chilometriche splendide, e il tempo per leggere è quello che è, e non posso non dar la precedenza alle mie otps. Help. Le due settimane confinata a casa causa punti nelle gengive sono state in quel senso una benedizione, perchè ho potuto rimettermi in pari col Reading Bingo.

Ci fosse un Reading Bingo delle fanfics lo riempirei in due ore, aiuto aiuto.

[space-oddity-75.livejournal.com]

Quale? La mia icona FreemanPorn? Deliziosa, vero? ;)

Anch'io riempirei in un giorno solo un Fanfic Reading Bingo, stai sicura! Ovviamente sono sempre saldamente ancorata a Cabin Pressure (anche se dubito che le fic scritte da me vedranno mai la luce), ma non disdegno un po' di buon Sherlock e un tocco del caro vecchio Life on Mars se capita. Il fandom è la mia rovina!!! ;)

[nausicaa83.livejournal.com]

Ne ho letto una Charles/Erik (X-Men First Class) la scorsa settimana, 170.000 parole, ambientata nell'Antica Roma e scritta con un'attenzione ai dettagli che ha fatto piangere di gioia l'Archeologa che è in me. Non avevo mai letto prima un romanzo che avesse quell'ammontare di ricerca minuziosa alle spalle.

Le fanfics mi rendono tanto felice!

[kryptyd.livejournal.com]

I love it. It think one of my favourites is "every day the same old thing. But not today!" *Calvin starts to walk out the front door, butt naked*

[nausicaa83.livejournal.com]

One strip that always makes me laugh out loud is this one:



The more I look at it the funnier it gets. I guess the best part about Calvin & Hobbes is that it makes me feel like a kid again, sense of humor and all. :D