Calvin

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Calvin Hobbes
A presentation by
Sadhwi Srinivas
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FACTS
Author Bill Watterson Launch
Date November 18, 1985 Closing Date
December 31, 1995 Genre
Humour, Family, Politics, Satire Broad Themes
Fantasy, Childhood
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A note on the creator of CnH

• Bill Watterson, an American cartoonist.
• Unconventional principles
• For instance, revolted heavily against space
  constraints in newspapers saying it was a
  hindrance to the progress of cartooning as an art
  form.
• Against merchandising of the comic
• Presently, a recluse.

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Wattersons Inspiration

• By his own admission, Watterson was influenced
  largely by Charles Schulz, the creator of another
  revolutionary comic strip, Peanuts.
• Watterson studied Schulzs drawings endlessly as
  a kid, and it was an invaluable education in how
  comics worked.
• In his own words about Schulz,
• I've never met Charles Schulz, but long ago
  his work introduced me to what a comic strip
  could be, and made me want to be a cartoonist
  myself. He was a hero to me as a kid, and his
  influence on my work and life is long and deep.

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The Characters
CALVIN

• Named for a 16th century theologist.
• By Wattersons own admission, he uses Calvin as
  an outlet for his own immaturity, as a way to
  keep himself curious about the natural world, and
  as a way to ridicule his own obsessions.

Honestly, at some point or the other, we all
relate to Calvin. None of us would want Calvin in
our houses, but he kind of helps us sort through
life.
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HOBBES
From everyone elses point of view, Hobbes is
Calvins stuffed tiger. But for Calvin, Hobbes is
just as living as you or me!
Hobbes is good natured, intelligent and
enthusiastic. As Watterson says, I often prefer
the company of animals to people, and Hobbes is
my idea of an ideal friend.
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What makes CnH special?

• Calvin and Hobbes ran for 10 years, from 1985 to
  1995.
• In a period as short as that, the immense
  popularity that it managed to acquire says it
  all!
• Not just funny, but warm and insightful.
• The fact that Watterson chose not to indulge in
  merchandising for personal profit gives the comic
  a charm few others can claim to possess today.
• Not to mention, the unexpected, but remarkable
  end of the comic, as we shall later see.
• All in all, certainly the most poignant of all
  comics, and closest to the heart of the masses.

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The Artistic Side

• In initial strips, the drawings have a crude,
  flat look. In the recent strips, the drawings
  appear more three dimensional.
• On several occasions, Watterson drew strips with
  strange visual distortions such as inverted
  colors, or using just plain black and white!

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Recurring Subject Matter

• There can be seen several repeating themes in the
  comic, a few involving Calvins real life, and
  many stemming from his imagination.
• Wagon and Sled
• Snowballs and Snowmen
• Christmas
• Cardboard Boxes
• G.R.O.S.S

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Social Criticism

• Watterson often used the strip to comment on
  American culture and society.
• He expresses frustration with public apathy,
  commercialism and the pandering nature of the
  mass media.
• Wattersons vehicle for criticism is often
  Hobbes, who comments on Calvins antics from a
  cynical perspective.

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Retirement
In 1995, Watterson sent a letter to all
editors whose newspapers carried his strip. I
will be stopping Calvin and Hobbes at the end of
the year. This was not a recent, or an easy
decision, and I leave with some sadness. My
interests have shifted however, and I am eager to
work at a more thoughtful pace, with fewer
artistic compromises. Since retiring, he has
taken up painting, often drawing landscapes of
the woods with his father.
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The Aftermath
When it ended, his readers were, to say the
least, extremely disappointed, and without much
exaggeration, enraged. So much so that the Yale
daily Newspaper carried messages of mourning ?
With deep regret, we learn that Calvin will
soon be no more. Bill Watterson, Calvin's muse,
has announced that as of December 31 of this year
Calvin will cease to grace newspaper pages around
the nation. Universal Press Syndicate has
announced that when Watterson retires, they will
not provide the usual reruns. In other words,
Calvin will disappear entirely. He will pass onto
that great comic page in the sky, and the world
will be worse for his passing. Yale students
must contact Bill Watterson and convince him that
Calvin cannot merely end. And if we prove
ineffective in our quest, we will be content in
the knowledge that although life is unfair, we
gave a man and his tiger their day. Let us mourn
his leaving.
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A couple of unique features

• Next time you come across a Calvin and Hobbes
  strip, notice that the font is always made up of
  all capital letters! ?
• The very first strip shows Calvin finding his
  tiger, Hobbes by means of a snare, with a tuna
  sandwich as a bait.
• However, a later comic (August 1, 1989) seems to
  imply that Hobbes is, in fact, older than Calvin,
  and has been around his whole life.
• Watterson eventually decided that it was not
  important to establish how Calvin and Hobbes had
  first met.

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Favourite Quotes

• If people sat outside and looked at the stars
  each night, I'll bet they'd live a lot
  differently.
• Know what's weird? Day by day, nothing seems to
  change. But pretty soon, everything's different.
  
• Talking with you is sort of the conversational
  equivalent of an out of body experience.
• We all have different desires and needs, but if
  we don't discover what we want from ourselves and
  what we stand for, we will live passively and
  unfulfilled.
• Weekends don't count unless you spend them
  doing something completely pointless.

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Some poignant strips
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(No Transcript)
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THE FINAL STRIP
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THANK YOU!!