Calvin and Hobbes

[Dandontdare]

this is a well known fake I believe - depressing though!

[Tweak72]

[IndigoPrime]

this is a well known fake I believe - depressing though!

Brilliantly observed, I thought.

[Queen Firey-Bou]

me & my then small son used to love the school teacher ones, cos sons teacher looked just like the one in the strip & it was all very true. I don't remember the bird or racoon, I'll have to dig out the books we have.

[Robin Low]

I'm crashing the party here, but I always feel obliged to remind everyone that it was Charles Schulz, with Charlie Brown and later Linus, who started the whole snowman thing, and did it damn well.  You can also find profoundly moving strips in Peanuts, too - I've also been moved to tears by a sequence showing Charlie Brown's terrible, terrible loneliness. (Of course, in 50 years worth of daily strips, the gems are far too easily over-looked.) Schulz' drawing skills are also something of a revelation when you see his strips printed on quality paper, most obviously in strips from the years before his hands started to shake.

This is not, of course, to deny the comedic brilliance and emotional depth to be found in Calvin and Hobbes. I have the Complete Calvin and Hobbes on my shelves as well as the ongoing Complete Peanuts, and proud to have them all.

I was quite pleased to find Watterson's thoughts on Peanuts:

http://ignatz.brinkster.net/cpeanuts01.html


Regards

Robin

[IndigoPrime]

as well as the ongoing Complete Peanuts

I'm buying these from Canongate. Such a shame they didn't elect to 'catch up' with the US version, instead sticking to two books every autumn.

[Dandontdare]

I've also been moved to tears by a sequence showing Charlie Brown's terrible, terrible loneliness.

Truly one of the greatest Tragic characters ever commited to paper. Hamlet, watch and learn! The Peanuts books delighted and fascinated me as a kid - I couldn't get my head round how there was such a deeply sad story in the middle of all this nonsense comedy. I used to wonder why Snoopy, the font of all wisdom, didn't care more about CB. In fact if I remember rightly, he could be  a bit of a t**t that dog!

[Colin YNWA]

It's true. it's a cracking strip and I quite fancy the mom. It did get a bit samey towards the end and I think Bill Watterson did the right thing calling it a day when he did - better to go out strong than to have Charlie Brown missing that football for 50 years straight.

Fav C&H here (fair use I'm sure!) although there are a few similar ones with the same evil outcome. I also like the one where he soaks his Mom after she gets all dressed up. Look of mischieviousness never bettered.

Have that one framed on my wall at home. Love it

[the shutdown man]

I always liked the story that ran for a few strips where the family got back from a weekend away to find the house had been burgled. The first thing Calvin did was panic and run off to find Hobbes, while there was a great bit of the dad lying awake at night worrying about the whole thing: "A man's home is his castle but it shouldn't have to be a fortress."

[Mardroid]

That snowman/dinosaur scene reminds me of the childhood plasticine model scenes in Pushing Daisies. You know, where young Ned and Chuck are dressed up as Japanese-esq  monsters and go a-stomping complete with animated CGI plasticine folk running in terror. Heh.

I confess, I've never heard of Calving and Hobbes though. I didn't read that many newspaper cartoons though apart from the occasional Andy Capp and Garth as a kid. There is another strip I've seen recently based around a goth girl. It's rather pants (not that I'm suggesting they're all like that as that's blatantly not true.)

[TordelBack]

there is another strip I've seen recently based around a goth girl. It's rather pants (not that I'm suggesting they're all like that as that's blatantly not true.)

That'd be Nemi.

Dear grud, that is one terribly unfunny strip.

Cue someone to say they write/draw it and make me feel like a right poo-poster.

[M.I.K.]

That'd be Nemi.

Dear grud, that is one terribly unfunny strip.

Cue someone to say they write/draw it and make me feel like a right poo-poster.

I actually quite like Nemi, although admittedly it can be a bit hit and miss. That might have something to do with it being a translated Norwegian strip though.

What I cannot understand is the apparent popularity of Dilbert. I don't find it even remotely funny.

[Robin Low]

I used to wonder why Snoopy, the font of all wisdom, didn't care more about CB.

I think he did. There's a strip in which Charlie Brown is sat on the ground stroking Snoopy who's laying in his lap. We get two panels of CB's loneliness, followed by his questioning observation to Snoopy, "In fact I don't even know why you're here with me", to which Snoopy's response in the final panel is, "Love and a short leash."  

I read that one years ago, but it's stuck in my memory. Moving and funny in five words.

(And yes, I realise that 'stroking Snoopy' does sound like a euphemism.)

Regards

Robin

[Dandontdare]

I think he did. There's a strip in which Charlie Brown is sat on the ground stroking Snoopy who's laying in his lap. We get two panels of CB's loneliness, followed by his questioning observation to Snoopy, "In fact I don't even know why you're here with me", to which Snoopy's response in the final panel is, "Love and a short leash."

maybe there was love there too, but i seem to remember the demands and the thrown dog-dishes; the way he always seems to show him up on the baseball field or side with the rest of the gang against him. Hell, how often did he go off with Peppermint Patty after Charlie Brown managed to show himself up somehow?

I tried a google search to back up my theory (gave my peanuts books away long ago) but only found this psychological deconstruction -

"Beagles are notoriously leisure-oriented, and sycophantically drool upon their owners, exuding unmitigated love, devotion, and dependence. Snoopy, conversely, refers snidely to his owner, the deeply damaged and eternally fallible Charlie Brown, as "that round-headed kid."

Then again, Charlie isn't on a first-name basis with Snoopy, either. He routinely calls him "my dog," asking his friends, or what passes as his friends, "Have you seen my dog?" Further, he directly questions Snoopy regularly, inquiring, "Why can't I have a normal dog like everyone else?" This separates Charlie from his closest ally in the world of Peanuts."

but then again, you can overthink these things!

[Roger Godpleton]

I hope the fictional character Nemi dies.