Epic Win: Calvin and Hobbes
Submitted by B Dawson
Calvin & Hobbes taught us everything we needed to know as kids. Girls are gross. Build forts out of furniture. Daydream in class. Go outside as often as possible.
But one of the most important things Calvin & Hobbes taught us about were all of the sinister things that lurk beyond childhood. Things that we were quickly approaching such as how to keep your imagination alive so you don’t become a soul-suckingly boring old person like your parents, don’t smoke cigarettes, and always laugh at life, no matter how depressing it got. And always laugh in the face of intimidation.
Definite thumbs-up!
I still read the entire archive once a year. <3
Is your name a reference to “The Outsiders”?
Just watched that movie yesterday. One of my faves! What a cast!
yeah its Tom Cruise’s second movie
That + I used to steal my sisters’ My Little Ponies =D
YES YES YES YES YES. I was introduced to Calvin and Hobbes by my uncle, when he died I got his collection of books. It’s very hard to be sad when you’re laughing like an idiot.
Best comic ever, for sure!
lol im 12 years old and started to read it when i was 9, which is how old calvin is, if i remember… god i was hell back then (i regret nothing)
Calvin is actually six
I have every anthology plus a bunch of the single books. It’s been my favorite comic since I was about 8 or 9, and now I’m 22! Looooove
I agree, best comic EVER! I’ve been reading Calvin and Hobbes since I was able to read. I’m now 28 and the mother of 4 boys so I can appreciate Calvin even more.
Im 12 too and I started reading when I was 3…
BEST COMIC EVER!!
not only was it awesome, but according to my mom it made me way smarter..
i had the best vocab in the state of PA for 5 years before I moved.
I was just reading the Essential Calvin and Hobbes today! I always wanted to play Calvinball and remember, the score is still Q to 12!
Calvinball! Free passage to wicket five for that reference.
I miss Calvin and Hobbes.
This is a bag flag zone!
Aww, I love Calvin and Hobbes! I was just putting all the books on the shelf (they’d been packed because we moved) and had to read a few in the process.
(And I bet the people who gave this thumbs-down haven’t even read them!)
Epic, epic win.
Legendary, epic, epic win. Side-splitting laughter was never easier.
Calvin and Hobbes – the best comic ever.
I used to think they were hilarious until I ended up with my own little Calvin. Remember what Calvin’s mom always looked like? Usually with a hand on her forehead and a little black cloud over her? That’s me. Not so funny any more.
I’m with you, Mad. I have my very own little Calvin as well.
Facepalm is a common happening in our house.
I bet that person is your wife, now.
HECK. YES.
Calvin and Hobbes is freaking awesome.
“Your simian countenance suggests a heritage unusually rich in species diversity.” -Calvin
I’d give this one a dozen thumbs up, if I could. Calvin and Hobbes RULES.
Waiting for the next decent snowfall to build some Calvin-style snowmen… >:D
Only a dozen?
Gotta leave room for the rest of you guys, right?
Besides, under Calvinball rules, each of my thumbs-ups counts as a hundred.
If this ends up posting twice, it’s not my fault – just got an error screen when I pressed “Add Comment”, so I’m trying again.
Re: “Only a dozen?” – yeah, I had to leave room for the rest of you guys to get yours in, right?
Besides, under Calvinball rules, each of my thumbs-ups counts as a hundred.
my husband and i spent the first summer that we started dating reading all the calvin and hobbes books. best summer of my life.
C&H: Best comic strip ever.
bestest calvin quote: “I think the surest sign that there is intelligent life out there in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us.”
bestest lesson from calvin: all you need is a box.
my vote for best strip is where he was doing ‘execution dioramas’ (beheadings etc.) with the snowmen and mom was harshing his buzz -
his affirmative defense: “Define well adjusted”.
YES!!! I grew up on Calvin and Hobbes. my parents said that I was just like him. now they say I’m just like Jeremy off of Zits. lol
Best. Comic strip. Ever.
‘Nuff said.
Epic Fail: Those counterfeit Calvin-peeing-on-a-logo truck stickers.
Seconded. I don’t think Calvin would be THAT disgustingly destructive.
except the ones in Southern California where he’s peeing on La Migra.
i concer, Calvin is not THAT overtly mean, he’d more likely pretend that the truck is a cargo ship for hostel extraterrestrials, and go threw and elaborate planning process in taking it down. ending up soaking it with a hose [i.e. ultra-destroyer-ray]
Agreed. I have a Calvin sticker on the back of my car. But he’s holding a radio control transmitter over his head and running. Chasing him is an out-of-control radio controlled airplane.
C&H is my all-time favorite strip, followed by Far Side in a very very close second.
Yeah, Bill Watterson never authorized those, and as I recall, some lawsuits were filed. He never wanted to commercialize anything and it ticked off his syndicate.
WIN! I just got all warm and fuzzy
LOVELOVELOVELOVELOVELOVELOVE
Calvin was probably my first fictional crush… And I think that I was the girl version of him as a kid.
man i loved Calvin and Hobbs ^o^ my brother always said you pronounced it as hobes like globes and i said hobs like jobs. (i still think im right
) a neighborhood kid has these on his front lawn on summer, and i would always go over there and read on the grass with this other neighborhood boy (jeff <3) for hours…my mum would never let us go into others homes (i think she was wary of Pedos) but man, the hours flew by. we would show each other the funny ones…. now im 18, and i still have an imagination like Calvin. i still want to take an inner tube and float down the streams and rivers until i reach the Colombia river XD my brothers dont see the appeal…. man,i hope i never lose those goofy dreams. the appeal of exploring the woods. things like that.. i dont know, people are so dull now ;_;
WEIRD! Just last night before I went to sleep, I was thinking about Calvin and Hobbes and I thought, “That needs to be on once upon a win!” I used to read all the books I have of it every summer. Maybe I should do that again!
Best strip evah. WIN!
I started reading Calvin and Hobbes in the paper when I went to visit my grandparents. Soon I owned every book and would spend hours laughing to myself while my parents looked on and sighed. As a matter of fact, I had two stuffed tigers named Hobbes that went with me EVERYWHERE! I am proud to say that I have introduced C&H to a new generation, namely my ten year old brother Will. I love how Calvin and Hobbes never shied away from more heavier topics, like death and loss, and dealt with them in a way that didn’t dumb it down or gloss it over just because it was a comic strip. God bless you, Bill Watterson!
I remember reading the last ever strip, and I cried.
I was that sad about it being over.
“Let’s go exploring!”
I was sad too, but I was also very satisfied with those final words.
For Calvin, the strip didn’t end. Ever six, ever with Hobbes, ever dashing headlong into adventure.
Ever beloved by readers.
YES YES YES YES YES!!
I can’t thank you enough for nominating C&H – I have been an ardent admirer of Bill Watterson for just about as long as I can remember. This is the man who chose to retire his most famous and enduring creation rather than allow the corporate merchandise pirate machine to despoil it, despite the bajillions of dollars he would personally have made off it.
I have passed on my love of C&H to my kids, and I feel sure they will keep the tradition alive. There is simply no other comic that can makes me verklempt in one panel, only to have me in stitches in the next.
Yay! I love Calvin and Hobbes! Epic Win!
C&h is awesome anyone here bought the 200 dollar collection besides me
wooot CH
EPIC EPIC EPIC EPIC EPIC WIN. What’s weird is I wa just reading Weirdos from another Planet before I got on to OUAW. o_0
OMG!! SERIOUS Epic WIN!! This is to date still my favorite comic strip, and probably always will be.
The best comic strip ever.
Nuf said.
Is there a level above epic? Because Epic isn’t adequate to describe the Win that is Calvin and Hobbes.
That would be legendary
heehee
Calvin and Hobbes is such an epic win for me that I have three of every book made. One set for the bathroom, one for my daughters room, and the other for my living room.
I had two bearded dragon lizards who were named Calvin and Hobbes ( they passed away last year tho *sniff*) and my 4 yr old daughter has her very own transmogrifier…
It pains me that the paper still reruns Peanuts, which is the largest pile ever created and something this great gets left by the way side. Peanuts = suck to the millionth degree, Calvin and Hobbes = epic win to the trillionth degree.
amen!
Ok – who has actually built the snowmen??? I have seen several C&H style snowmen out there….Calvin will live forever!!! Whoo hoo!! My favorite was when his dad comes home and I thing there were 3 snowmen in the act of blowing chunks on the lawn….His dad goes…”Eggplant Parmesan for dinner tonight?” Loved it!!!
The pastor of my church actually built a Calvin snowman this year – lying on its back, with a fence post coming up through its chest.
I definetely built the snowmen a couple years ago, I did the one impaled on the tree
I wanted to do the massive line of snowmen crossing the driveway but we didn’t get enough snow, so sad 
Man, I can’t even think of a favorite. I did always like the ones where his dad blew a gasket over something. He’d always scream with his mouth ridiculously wide open or you’d see “WHERE’S THAT KID?!” coming from outside of the panel. Classic. And, of course, the facepalms from Mom.
Slippin’ rippin’ dang fang rotten zarg barg-a ding dong! (Dad putting together a Christmas present.) Never forgot that line.
I read every single strip, and still remember them all. Calvin and Hobbes had as much of a formative influence on me as any other literary work.
Best one ever:
[Calvin's hammering nails into the coffee table]
Mom: “CALVIN! what are you doing!?!?!”
Calvin: [pauses, with a blank look on his face...]
Calvin: “Is this a trick question?”
BEST. One. EVER!!! That has always been my favorite!!! He’s all “like… duh!” when she asks him.. and i can still see the facepalm on her.. pooooor Mom…
Remember the last comic?
http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/5152/lastcandhjs2.gif
Absolutely LOVE C&H!! Don’t think I’ve read the final instalment though :0(
Must go check my book case and see what’s missing hehe
Great addition!!
D
If I ever have kids I want to be like Calvins dad!! ;o) Messing with their minds with things like “it was all black and white back then, colour didn’t come into the world til the 70’s” and stuff like that is fab!!
Awesome. One of my high school science teachers used to photocopy Calvin and Hobbes cartoons on his exams. Gave us all a little laugh break between pages. Great memories.
Super massive epic entertainment vacuum with C&H no longer around.
I always felt Watterson was an absolute genius. Why have all the good strips gone – C&H, Farside, Opus & even Bloom County? (I think BC is back or was maybe was never away?? It was was MIA from my local paper for many years. Any way…. ) One of my faves from C&H:
1st panel scene: Ms. Wormwood, writing on the chalkboard, with her back to the class
Calvin: Ms. Wormwood?
Ms. W: Yes, Calvin?
2nd panel scene: Calvin, sitting at his school desk
Calvin: You can present the material, but you can’t make me care.
3rd panel: Calvin, on the playground, in a swing
Calvin: Rumor has it she’s up to three packs a day… unfiltered.
His knowledge of her impending breakdown & pride in being the source of it still cracks me up to this day. God, I miss them.
I didn’t discover Calvin and Hobbes until high school, and Bill Richardson retired several years later, making the comic world a little more sad. I have the entire collection, plus the big anthology, and enjoy a daily email comic. Favorite parts are Spaceman Spiff, Captain Stupendous and the snowman collections
BEST COMIC STRIP EVER! oh man, i’ve never loved any fictional characters more than i have the ones from this comic. they made me laugh and even genuinely cry! (the several strips about the baby raccoon was what made me cry.)
but i hate looking at them, though because i can’t stand the fact that they are and have been done for quite some time… =(
oh, and by the way, Calvinball rule: any thumbs down is actually a thumbs up in disguise because this was the best comic ever. =)
Disguised thumbs ups are worth thumbs up times bowling ball.
yeah, I wondered how long it’d take for someone to post Calvin and Hobbes. Too long , I say. By far the greatest comic strip of all time. ALL TIME I say!
Several people gave this a thumbs DOWN? Proof positive that people are just thumbing some of these down just ’cause.
I was thinking the same thing and looked through the comments for why someone would thumbs down Calvin of all things. Who on earth would do such a thing???!
Absolute epic win. Everything I ever needed to learn (including higher maths) I learned from Calvin and Hobbes. Let’s go exploring!!!
Whatever happened to Bill Watterson? I wonder if he’s rested up enough to bring Calvin and, especially, Hobbes, back to us.
As of now 77 blunderf#cks voted thumbs down….idiots.
Yep he ran his parents crazy, but I loved Calvin and Hobbes because they managed to get their own back, especially his dad. Like telling Calvin he didn’t come from Sears like the rest of the kids, but instead was a blue-light special from Kmart – a lot cheaper and almost as good. Or telling him that pics and films used to be black and white because the world was black and white. Or the fact that Hobbes always looked real to Calvin. =)
I was stationed in the mountains over in Germany, and the perpetual Calvin comic on our message board was Calvin, walking through the snow. He stops with a perplexed look and says, “Don’t you hate it when your boogers freeze?” Bill retired the strip just before I came back to the States; the comics page just wasn’t the same. Now I own the lovely 27 pound collection of ALL the strips, and re-read them on a regular basis.
Epic, EPIC win.
One time I answered, “I cannot answer this question as it is against my religious principles,” on a test one time because I didn’t know the answer.
C&H is the best comic strip ever.
FACT
I still have a couple Calvin and Hobbes comic books in my bookshelf!
Yes. Yes yes yes yes yes.
I used to read the strips, the books, all the time. So much so that all the books I have are stained, torn, falling apart and missing all their covers. I loved them so damn much.
I still do. I believe there’s a revival movement going on on the interwebs right now, actually.
I built a livejournal Calvin and Hobbes mood theme out of homage to the greatest comic strip ever, which I quote far too much… it’s so good and so awesome and so true! I own all the books… should get the huge collector’s edition. my dorm has it.
who the hell voted calvin and hobbs down!? names! i want names! they shall feel my wrath!
This was such a great comic! They always made some deeper point about life while making you laugh your face off. Some of the drawings were just hilarious. Someone needs to step up and start making great comics like this again!
I love this comic so much- I have never laughed so much with any other comic. I always wished I lived in a foresty area like Calvin and Hobbes so I could go out exploring like them. The comic was just such a great reminder and representation of childhood.
Bill Watterson was a pure genius.
loved it, but where was any talking about God in this series?