Customer Reviews

Calvin and Hobbes : Sunday Pages 1985-1995

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Watterson hand-picked each Sunday strip in this book and provided a 3-5 line commentary on most of the strips. The chosen strips are split about halfway between the old format and the later, "non-bordered" format, and the selected Sunday strips are certainly representative of C&H's style and character.

Some of the commentary is very similar to what's found in the 10th anniv. book, but most of it is newly informative and interesting. As an aspiring comic-stripper, I found Watterson's comments very useful in bettering my approach to the design, coloring and plot of a comic strip, more so than what he says in the 10th anniv. book.

The collection begins with an essay from Mr. Watterson about his perspective on C&H 6 years removed, and it's probably my favorite part of the book. Also included are the non-colored sketches of each strip on its neighboring page. Since these sketches are reprinted in color, you can see the erasures, griddings and white-outs; a nice touch, for sure.

Comic strip enthusiasts are going to grab this book no matter what I say (and well they should), but more casual readers may be happier reading this book at the bookstore for free instead. It's short and contains comics already printed in the many C&H collections, but it's certainly suited for the C&H fan who wants more. I think it's very kind of Mr. Watterson, a man who never wanted the fame C&H garnered him, to offer his time and comments for this collection. As a lover of the comic arts, I genuinely thank him for helping make this book happen.

This beautifully printed and put together collection is the companion to an exhibition of Calvin & Hobbes strips at Ohio State University. While it doesn't comprise any new material, it is a must have for every Calvin & Hobbes fan for a variety of reasons.

First, each cartoon is presented with the original, black and white sketch on the left, and the final, colored version on the right. It is genuinely fascinating to see what color can do for a strip, and it was likewise interesting to observe the number of revisions that Watterson made.

Secondly, Watterson's introduction and his notes, which accompany many of the strips, offer wonderful insight into what the strips were meant to portray, and the artistic challenges he faced. While this is similar to what he did in the Tenth Anniversary book, it is obvious that he has gained some perspective over the last six years, and his thoughts are rather more contemplative as a result.

Finally, this book is a much needed burst of nostalgia for the trying times we live in. While it has only been six years since the last strip, it feels like much longer. There's something about Calvin & Hobbes that just exudes innocence and a simpler life. It was genuinely refreshing to revisit Calvin's world, and I am now greatly looking forward to rereading all of the collections. If you likewise long for the days when you could open up your newspaper and read this strip, you won't be disappointed by this collection.

Loved it! Loved it! LOVED IT!!!

I'm one of those people who read Calvin & Hobbes when it was at its peak, but sadly took it for granted. You can't give a book a greater tribute than to say it makes you want to order the person's OTHER works....and we should be grateful Bill Watterson's output for this now-defunct classic strip is still available in book collections. And this collection is one of the BEST.

This book works on several levels...or, should I say, works PERFECTLY on several levels:

--THE HUMOROUS LEVEL: The humor remains of a "cutting-edge" quality not seen in many comic strips (today's strip Zits is a great one). But it's humor that works on several levels, a la Rocky & Bullwinkle: adults get "more" of the hilarious verbal and (quite frequently) non-verbal jokes while kids get enough so they love it, too.

--THE CRAFTSMANSHIP LEVEL: This book, originally created as a catalogue for Sunday pages on display at the Ohio State University Cartoon Research Lab, boasts his original uninked black and white drawings (you can even spot some White Out!) on the left side and the completed "product" (fully inked drawings) on the right side. You can see how each strip evolved. You soon realize that color selection is in itself a vital crafts/artistic decision.

--THE ARTISTIC LEVEL: Watterson has a SUPERB 7-page essay about his strip at the beginning of this book. But there's a LOT more to learn as you go through the strips. Under each completed strip he explains a bit about what he was trying to do: why he changed "okay" to OK, how he tried depicting personalities, how a given strip's characters became more three-dimensional, his experiments with verbal and sight jokes, how a strip was inspired by local scenery, his struggle over what kinds of pads to put on the tiger's feet ..even his attempt to use cubist art in one strip.

How do I know this book works on several levels? As I write this my 10-year-old nephew Greg is visiting. He immediately took this book, looked at it and said, "Oh, I've seen these! I love this!" and wanted to read it NOW. He was fascinated by the notes under the strips...and I told him that this is a book he can not only read for pure FUN but can also probably read for reading credit at school, since this is much more than "just" a Calvin and Hobbes collection...which in itself would be better than many comic collections on the market. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. YOU'LL READ IT AGAIN AND AGAIN!

Calvin & Hobbes was much more than a really good newspaper comic strip.

Created by Bill Watterson, Calvin & Hobbes will be hailed among the greatest ever created, right alongside Peanuts and Krazy Kat for its creativity, scope of influence and the enjoyment it offered the reader. It was a strip capable of being all things gleeful and all things sad, all things goofy and all things serious.

Bill Watterson's genius cannot be overstated. He was a master of the comic form. He somehow managed to be funny, clever, touching, insightful, warm, cynical, uplifting, devious, nostalgic, and mischievous, all in the space of a little three- or four-panel comic strip.

And his Sunday strips? A feast. His use of space and color, especially in the strip's later years, was masterful. He knew how to work a page like no other.

In this collection, some of the best Sunday strips are collected in glorious color. Each is amended with footnotes and annotations by the creator himself, along with early pre-newspaper versions of the strips. While many of these can be found elsewhere, this collection is a nice look back at some favorites, made even better by the insight and observations of the man who drew them. Even those intimately familiar with these cartoons will learn something new about the craft of comic creation through his annotations.

Each comic strip is a story - and for longtime Calvin & Hobbes readers, a memory. That final strip, with its clean slate of white snow into which Calvin and Hobbes disappear, talking of discovery and exploring ... just fantastic.

If you're a fan of Watterson's work and Calvin & Hobbes, you owe it to yourself to pick this up.

This Calvin and Hobbes collection is a welcome addition to any fans book shelf for two simple reasons.

Reason #1 - Creator Bill Watterson writes a foreward with some of his reflections on coming back to his original comic strips after taking the last 5 years off. He also adds some fun insights written below each of his strips. It's a nice touch to see them presented in both B&W and in full color. Shows how much life color can add to any presentation.

Reason #2 - Well...Calvin of course. It's all here from the early days to the final days. Fights with Hobbes, Spaceman Spiff, advice from dad, and lunchtime with Calvin. Reading this book will remind you of how much the daily papers miss a quality comic strip of this caliber.

As Calvin's dad would say, "Reading a Calvin and Hobbes Book builds character!"

Bill Watterson--the reclusive creator of Calvin and Hobbes--shares his personal insights on creating this incredible strip. If you're a fan, there's no question that you should buy the book. It's like being introduced to Calvin and Hobbes all over again. The strips you've seen before, but you'll learn things you never knew.

I just got this book this morning after pre-ordering it a while back and read it right through.

The book is great. It includes a 7 page essay by Bill Watterson and captions for most of his hand-selected Sunday strips. Each strip is shown in preproduction phase, with pencil marks, white-out, and colorless, and also in the finished format, just as Mr. Watterson liked to show it.

If you're a fan of Watterson's work as I am, you will not be disappointed. I already had all the collections but this is a welcome edition. The originals of the Sunday pages are what is on display at the Ohio State University Cartoon Research Lab and this book serves as a catalogue for those who can't make it out there while the exhibit is displayed.

Another testament to the amazing work of Bill Watterson, and I really hope that he will continue to share his work, in whatever format he chooses, for many years to come.

At some point back in the eighties, one could turn to the comics pages and partake of Bloom County, The Far Side, and Calvin and Hobbes, all at the same time. Those were the days.

Calvin and Hobbes is simply one of the all-time great comic strips. From a simple premise - a young kid with a stuffed tiger that comes alive only for him - comes an extraordinary variety of humor, as well as commentary on the human condition. From slapstick comedy as Calvin terrorizes his babysitter to pathos as he suffers through another miserable day at school, it touches all the notes. Calvin and Hobbes even philosophize, usually as they're preparing to destroy themselves on a downhill sled run. And I haven't even mentioned Calvin's turns of fantasy with such characters as Spaceman Spiff and Stupendous Man.

What can you say? There's never been anything like Calvin and Hobbes, and there probably never will be again.

It's hard to comment on this book without a bit of nostalgia for the good old days when Calvin and Hobbes was a daily strip. It was, and remains to this day, simply the funniest, and best comic ever written. This new book doesn't offer any new cartoons, but offers a refreshing look at some old favorites. This book is a delight because it provides new insight into the brilliance of the best of Calvin and Hobbes.

Calvin & Hobbes: Sunday Pages 1985-1995 compares the original pencil sketches Watterson drew with the final strip that ran in the Sunday paper. Included are comments Watterson added on his creative process, shining a light on the genius behind the boy and his tiger. They are at times witty and wistful, and the comics are, as always, laugh-till-it-hurts funny.

It's great to know the man is still alive. This book began with a reflection by him about his great work on the sunday strips over the years. I was hoping he'd mention more about what he's done since he stopped doing Calvin and Hobbes, which he did but not as much as I'd like to know. Then the comics themselves were printed twice for every individual strip. Once showing the actual black and white inking with pencil marks, white coorection fluid blots and such, and again with the final printed color version. I love that stuff, I was lucky and saw an exhibit of Charles Shultz's origonal strips, which had his actual yellow legal pad pages he wrote ideas down on and little sketches. Bill Watterson has said his ideas have been limited by the space in which to tell a story in the newspaper comics. He's done all he feels he can within those guidlines. I can't imagine how great it would be to see what he can do stetching out of those guidlines.