The Indispensable Calvin and Hobbes

Now here's the Calvin and Hobbes collection to read during the Winter months! Calvin spends so much of his time wishing for winter to come, and it's finally here - complete with monstrous snowmen, snowball fights, and plenty of sledding mishaps! While Calvin revels in the glory of a 12 inch snowfall and warming up in front of the fire, the overall tone of the volume was a bit darker than some of the other collections. Not only does Calvin himself have a few moments where he laments the fate of the bullied, wasting his childhood with homework, and the struggles of team sports, we are also treated to a few comics which are told from the perspective of his father. Unlike Calvin, his father is a realist, and this makes his outlook a lot show more more dour even if he does take a few moments to distance himself from his adult life to play with Calvin. In terms of the chronology of Calvin's life, this collection is comprised of his later years, so maybe this is the turning point where we see Calvin starting to grow up and out of his childhood innocence. He has to grow up eventually, doesn't he? Or maybe not, since Calvin and Hobbes are kind of in the same league as Peter Pan and seem to stay childlike forever. show less

The Indispensable Calvin and Hobbes is an omnibus treasury that is composed of material previously released in The Revenge of the Baby-Sat and Scientific Progress Goes Boink. As a result, this treasury isn't actually indispensable at all - which is part of the joke. The fact that Watterson would go to the lengths of making sure that even the titles of his treasuries contribute some humor is, to me, illustrative of the care that Watterson takes in crafting his comic. And that care shows up in the consistent high quality of the resulting output.

Almost everyone should be familiar with Calvin, a precocious, imaginative, unruly six or seven year old boy and his stuffed tiger Hobbes. Hobbes comes to life when Calvin is alone with him, and is show more Calvin's best friend. Although the strip is somewhat ambiguous on the point, Hobbes's lively activities are almost certainly a product of Calvin's imagination, which makes the fact that Hobbes appears to be a good deal smarter and more mature than Calvin that much funnier.

The book contains several funny mini-storylines - three encounters with Calvin's dreaded babysitter Rosalyn, including his stealing her science notes and locking her out of the house; Calvin's attempt to complete bug collection while waiting for the bus, and later attempt to write a report on bat (Bats = Bugs!); Calvin's disastrous experiments with his Duplicator (it turns out, multiple Calvin's are nothing but trouble for the original), and his Time Machine (dinosaurs think tigers might make a tasty snack); Calvin's interminable wait for his propeller beanie which turns out to be a huge disappointment; and Calvin, under peer pressure, signing up to play baseball. All are funny, and all capture what life as an overactive little boy is like, retaining an honesty amidst the humor.

But where Calvin and Hobbes shines is always the single strips, in which Calvin waxes philosophical, or lets his imagination run wild (the Spaceman Spiff interludes and imaginative dinosaur strips are among my favorites. I love Calvin's demented snowman sculptures too). Among the best are those with little or no dialogue - Calvin using an umbrella to make an impromptu pool, hosing his mother down as she leaves the house, and my favorite, convincing his dad to go play with him in the snow - all told just in pictures.

I also think Watterson is an underrated poet - the book leads off with several pages with a single picture and a brief poem - either humorous, or touching, or both. The strips in which Calvin improvises poetry (usually over the sleeping Hobbes) are also among the best, such as Calvin's alliterative haiku:

"Twitching tufted tail,
A toasty, tawny tummy:
A tired tiger."

While The Indispensable Calvin and Hobbes may not technically be indispensable, it is certainly pretty close in my estimation. As with most Calvin and Hobbes material, this one gets my strong recommendation. show less

not as many in this collection that made me laugh nonstop or that i had to share with my family, but this is still just so joyful and fun, while also touching on real and serious issues. the drawings are fantastic and it's so relatable for both kids and parenting adults.

Because, come on. Who can say no to Calvin and Hobbes? I practically grew up on the duo, and my whole family loved him, me and my sibs and father would share these books. Fantastic art, and fantastic stories - both humorous and poignant, though I sure as hell am glad Calvin isn't my brother or kid.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this. Calvin speculates on the realities of Santa Claus, makes terrible faces for family photos, resists bathtime, fights the babysitter, teases the girl next door mercilessly, procrastinates doing homework, imagines saving the world from distasters with superpowers, or rampaging around as a dinosaur, and argues with his more level-headed best friend tiger Hobbes. I laughed through many pages. I had forgotten the episode where the family's house got broken into. In this volume he starts his club against "slimy girls" and makes his cardboard-box duplicator. Second half of the book is the entire contents of Scientific Progress Goes "Boink". With the improvement that this volume has all the weekend strips in show more full color. So now I know which one is immediately getting weeded from my collection as a redundancy.

from the Dogear Diary show less

The Indispensable Calvin and Hobbes is a good book for second graders. This book is about Calvin, a six-year old boy who hates school and his classmate Susie Derkins, and his stuffed tiger Hobbes. Calvin wants to have a good summer, so he watches tv and stays inside to play dart gun with Hobbes. When Calvin's parents say he can't watch tv, he goes over to Susie's and asks if he can watch tv there. She says, "Sure. Come in. It's a commercial," so Calvin stays there for a few hours and then goes outside and plays baseball with Hobbes. After that, they play football. In the middle of summer Calvin and his family go camping near the lake, and Calvin jumps in the water and catches a big fish. When he comes out, Calvin pretends he's Tarzan show more and swings from a vine. He puts his toes in the water and realizes the water is really cold, so he swings back on the vine and is very scared. Overall, Calvin has a very good summer getting revenge on Susie, building a club called Gross, getting rid of "slimy girls," and having a good time with Hobbes.

I thought this book was stupendous because Calvin is always trying to have a good time. I can relate to this book because I always try to find people to play with and I like to read comic books, just like Calvin. show less

Calvin and Hobbes in some ways fall into the same category as Joni Mitchell and geology: why didn't anyone tell me about them when I was little? Why didn't I go looking for them? How was I to know such things could possibly exist?