"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

[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 :)