These are two of my favorites: Every time I drive over a rural bridge with a weight limit posted, I think of this:
I have this as a poster in my cube... I think the brilliance of Calvin and Hobbes is the depth and completeness of it all. Its funny and simple enough that kids enjoy it, but as you read it when you're older you see a deeper layer of subtext and commentary which make you appreciate it even more and in a different way. Watterson is an absolutely genius. That and I've met no one who dislikes it. If you don't like C&H, I'll become suspicious of you. Tangentially related: I have a stuffed blue bear, creatively named Blue Bear, that I literally received an hour after my birth from my first relative visiting that's probably my most prized possession. Kids had blankets, or dolls, or whatever, I had Blue Bear. And remarkably, for how much I love that thing, its in incredible condition 26 years later. A single tear that was stitched up, but thats it. And I've taken that thing everywhere with me. It still sits in my room on my dresser at this moment. In college, most people appreciated it and the sentiment and thought it was cool, its not like I had fucking tea parties or slept with it. But one douchecopter down the hall thought it would be funny to steal it and hold it for ransom. I was legitimately concerned he was gonna tear off a limb, cause he was the type of dicknose who would derive humor from that. One day, I heard some yelling and one of the HUGE football players that lived across the hall, Tranaine from the hood in Miami, comes walking in my room with Blue Bear and gives him back. And we had the following exchange: JWags: "Dude...thanks. I seriously appreciate it." Tranaine: "No worries dawg, I saw you were ready to fight his ass, shit's not cool." J: "Yeah, I know its lame but whatever, it means alot to me." T: "Word. You just don't fuck with a dude's stuffed animal, ain't these motherfuckers ever read Calvin and Hobbes?" I think that sums up what the strip means to people perfectly.
My mom is actually from his home town, so it sort of makes Calvin and Hobbes that much cooler for me. In a very cool easter egg the back of The Essential Calvin and Hobbes shows a godzilla Calvin destroying the town and it's most famous business The Chagrin Falls Popcorn Shop. If you do ever find yourself in Chagrin Falls, OH definitely go check it out. It is actually pretty neat being built on top of a waterfall and all. Hard to nail down a favorite strip, but the G. R. O. S. S. stuff was usually top notch.
As well as making me laugh, Calvin & Hobbes captured a feeling in me that I can't really put in words. I read the entire Anniversary Edition one day when I was holed up in a family friend's library. This is probably my favorite strip of them all. Sometimes, the world's not quite enough for you.
I like it. Forgetting about tomorrow. A Sisyphean task. A struggle you may never win but one that you are never allowed to give up.
Bill Watterson created the ultimate treasure with this. And he NEVER marketed it. Aside from a calendar one year, there has been no licensed merchandise. Even more amazing that Watterson never had any children, he just "thought like a lazy six-yar-old would". Boy, DID he. Calvin & Hobbes was the first comic strip to have death, gross-out gags, cruelty, and violence mixed with thought-provocing childhood philosophy (on the wagon or toboggan before a wipeout). Everything that inhabits the mind of a little boy. It was perfection. Especially the way they did Hobbes: never revealing whether he was a figment of imagination, or a creature the only came to life around Calvin. Watterson intentionally did it that way. My favourite? Any snowman strip. His demented little mind knew no boundry.
I used to read Calvin & Hobbes all day when I was younger. One time I was at the book store with my mom, and I saw that the new C&H just came out. I wanted it, but she wouldn't buy it, so I threw a complete shit-storm temper tantrum in the store; I'm talking screaming, crying, rolling on the ground. She took me back to the car, spanked the shit out of me, took me downtown to my dad's office and dropped me off saying, "You take him. I can't deal with his shit today." A couple years ago she got me The Complete Calvin and Hobbes Collection. Spoiler I think she still feels bad, even though I completely deserved an ass-whooping.
This one here was voted as the funniest single strip of all time, and it's probably the most famous one in the whole collection. It is so fucking perfect. You know what exactly went on in between panels three and four. Questions. Paranoia. Scary rumours. Every sound amplified a thousand times. Dying a thousand deaths and nothing happens. So many of us have been there as a kid. Also, this one is dead-to-rights. I honestly think the self-titled first book may be the funniest, despite the crude artwork. Tell me this doesn't scream childhood:
I first started reading Calvin and Hobbes during the beginning of 7th grade. I had a friend, Steve, and we'd sit around like dorks just talking about strips and laughing our asses off. Looking back on it, I credit the Calvin and Hobbes for vastly influencing my sense of humor. Sometimes dark, witty, sentimental, obscure, and often a little eccentric. As for the complete collection that Swampdonkey posted.... I must own it. Searching the nets right now.
Calvin: "I say it's a fallacy that kids need 12 years of school! Three months is plenty! Look at me. I'm smart! I don't need 11 1/2 more years of school! It's a complete waste of my time!" Hobbes: "How on earth did you get all the way to the bus stop with both feet through one pant leg?" Calvin: "I fell down a lot."
Ehh, picking one favorite strip would be like picking my favorite child. Although off the top of my head, I'd say anything involving snowmen or Susie would be in my top tier. First person to buy me this gets a blowjob. I found a copy of one at Barnes and Noble once. Must have weighed about 20 fucking pounds. It was glorious.
"I don't know if ignorance is a right, but I refuse to find out!" My favorite part about Calvin and Hobbes was the running theme of how Calvin wasn't stupid, he just wasn't interested in regular schooling. Every time I reread the comics, I always think about when I have my own kid, I'm going to encourage their interests, rather than trying to shoehorn them into something they don't want to be. Nothing is more important than a solid imagination, and enjoying being who you are despite everyone else's expectations. The fact that there are so many layers to a simple Sunday paper comic just blows my mind. Watterson was an absolute genius and gentleman. I wish there were more like him today.
I gotta say, it'd be hard not to part my grocery money for something as baller as the complete Calvin & Hobbes. Wouldn't you agree, or are you perhaps some kind of communist? [/trololol]
About the only good things my ex did for me was to get me the hardcover complete collection. Best thing I own. Here are a few that I like that I can remember (or that I can find the image of): ... And the raccoon story... Oh man, the raccoon story: