A. H. & P. Part Two

That's Art, Humor & Philosophy, the title of the previous C&H blog, the three things I believe Bill W. combines beautifully in the C&H comics.

Surprisingly I can specifically recall the first time I bought a Calvin and Hobbes collection. I remember being in third grade and finding it in those small four page catalogs from some book company. You remember those? They always had some Garfield books, and things like 'Number the Stars', 'Superfudge', and 'Wayside School'. That was the first time I bought a C&H book.
That book of strips released was entitled Something Under The Bed Is Drooling. I specifically recall that being the first one. I remember being ten or eleven and finding the first book that i didn't even know existed at a book store.

I love the books. Even at that young of an age. Remember the reading programs at the library?

You could read books all summer and get rewarded for it!

How cool is that!?

And yes! I realize I look like a huge nerd right now!

Cardinals tickets? Pizza Hut Pizzas I could use to bribe my sister and brother for things since I wouldn't eat pizza? Yes please.

Thus probably began my obsession with counting the books I read even to this day and keeping a list of them on Excel. It is kinda helpful at times. It truly is. And now to the second batch of quotes...

'Something Under The Bed Is Drooling'

foreword:

There is a mystical quality to Bill Watterson's work. What we have here is no mere comic strip. It possesses a dimension which was found once upon a time in George Herriman's Krazy Kat and, later, in Walt Kelly's Pogo. That, however, was long ago, and since their passing, there has been nothing in the world of cartoon art to replace them. Now, we have Calvin and Hobbes.

There are no mealy-mouths or namby-pamby characters in this strip. The kid is delightfully and dedicatedly rotten. The mother and the father (no names are given or necessary) live alongside their offspring in a state of agitated wonderment at what they must have done to deserve this child. The kid, for his part, lives a good 70 percent of his time in a world I remember well from my own childhood, peopled with unspeakable creatures of the imagination, and the rest of the time in a real world peopled with other unspeakables (the teacher, the girl, the school thug). Refuge from the latter world is found in the former. And then there's the goofy stuffed tiger. A gentle soul, he is much smarter than the kid, whose brashness he leavens with a wry, endearing wisdom.

There are many comic strips out there, a few good, some average, a great many merely background clutter. All have their own cast of characters, engaging or not, all glued and patched together with dialogue, some good, some not. Very few bright stars appear who possess that peculiar magic which can provoke comparison with the best of the past. Looking at the work of our two comparisons, Herriman and Kelly, we can see a wedding of idea and art rarely seen these days, a feeling that words can enhance art and art can do the same for the written - that a carefully wrought blend of these ingredients can create a degree of enchantment which bespeaks genius.

You want magic?

Watterson the alchemist has conjured forth a work of subtlely, character, and depth far out of proportion to his tender years. I wish him long life, and may the powers of his sorcery never diminish.

You want magic?

This is a collection of the sorcerer's recipes for changing simple ink and paper into the purest gold. Humbly allow me to present Calvin (the kid) and Hobbes (the tiger). This book is magic.

- Pat Oliphant (most widely syndicated political cartoonist in the world)
www.uclick.com/client/wpc/po/

- I don't like these stories with morals.
- In short, open revolt and exile is the only hope for change.
- Gravity is arbitrary!
- Fat kids are high in cholesterol.
- I try to make everyone's day a little more surreal.
- The world bores you when you're cool.
- What fun is it being cool if you can't wear a sombrero?
- I was beguiled by her feminine charms. Yow.
- I've got plenty of common sense! I just choose to ignore it.
- C - If we're going to die, what's the point of living? H - Well, there's seafood...
- That's the problem with nature. Something's always stinging you or oozing mucus on you.
- It's hard to be a mom for a mom.
- Nothing beats sitting by a roaring fire after you've been out in the cold. Of course some people say why bother going outside first?
- Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me....Yeah right.
- Snow everywhere! It must be waist deep! Unfortunately that's a relative measure.
- Grades? We're being graded? We don't even get a few practice semesters?
- Her plan backfired dad. I'm all wound up and she needs to be put to bed.
- You don't get to be mom if you can't fix everything just right.
- It wouldn't be very grateful of you to break my heart.
- I'm crying because out there he's gone, but he's not gone inside me.
- I thought that after seven boring hours at school, you might appreciate one moment of pure, abject terror.
- I wonder if you can refuse to inherit the world. I think if you're born, it's too late.
- It's amazing what they do with corrugated cardboard these days.
- What horrors we visit upon ourselves in the name of science.
- Why is it you always rip your pants on the day everyone has to demonstrate a math problem at the chalkboard?
- The living dead don't need to solve word problems.
- Of course real zombies never get the giggles while looking at each other.
- Reading goes faster if you don't sweat comprehension.
- I'm a dessertarian.

Not that many quotes, but the beginning of the "dad/politics" bit started in this collection. A classic. Not to mention the mating dance strip...

C - Dad, did you do a mating dance when you first saw mom? I saw some birds do it on TV. They went, 'AWK AWK BRAAU-AUUKKK!!'
D- Yes, that's more or less how I reacted.
M- To what wise guy?....think carefully.

Sure didn't quite get that at the time....