The Complete Calvin and Hobbes with Ben Haslar
We’re back with another episode of Trade School! This time, we’re talking about The Complete Calvin and Hobbes! Our host this week is Ben Haslar!
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Edited by Case Aiken
Scored by Bret Eagleston
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Topics
Calvin and Hobbes Collection Review (00:00)
Personal journey with Bill Watterson's comic strip from fifth grade through adulthood
Analysis of The Complete Calvin and Hobbes as trade paperback recommendation
Character development of Calvin, Hobbes, and supporting cast members
Evolution from simple comic strips to sophisticated literary art form
Artistic and Philosophical Elements (01:14)
Watterson's mastery of comic strip format and visual storytelling techniques
Philosophical discussions between characters covering environmentalism, art meaning, and existential questions
Calvin's imagination and creativity through fantasy scenarios and object transformation
Balance between childhood humor and adult-level intellectual content
Commercial Integrity and Artistic Principles (06:18)
Watterson's refusal to commercialize beyond books and minimal merchandise
Contrast between authentic artistic vision and unauthorized commercial exploitation
Syndicate format constraints versus creative Sunday strip expansions
Preservation of artistic integrity in face of commercial pressures
Transcription
00:00
Welcome to Certain Point of View's Trade School, where each episode a different host talks about a comic book trade paperback that they loved and why they love it.
00:08
Thank you, Case. I'll take it from here. Hello, I'm your host for this week, Ben Haslar. You can typically find me as well as other trade school guests like Dylan J. Schlender, Ryan, Luis Rodriguez and Rob Maynard on the podcast Reels of Justice, a show where every week we and a guest assume the roles of lawyers, judge, jury and executioner in a court where we determine if a film is guilty of being a bad movie. It's a lot of fun and I hope you'll check us out, but today I'm not talking about film, but one of my favorite trades. It's not one that I think jumps to people's minds when thinking of trade comics, but it does technically fit the definition. It's the Complete Calvin and Hobbes as far back as fifth grade, I can remember loving Calvin and Hobbes.
00:52
I had enjoyed some amount of Charles Schultz peanuts in my school library, but after reading my dad's copy of Homicidal Psycho Jungle Cat, I was hooked on Watterson's brand of humor and I bought all of those collections. I dressed up as Calvin in fifth grade for Halloween I dyed my hair blonde, I wore a stripy shirt, and I had to borrow a stuffed tiger from some girls that lived nearby. And when I was trick or treating I just remember people not getting it. They're like, oh, you brought your little stuffed kitty with you. Oh that's cute. And it's like I'm Calvin. You don't get it. I'm Calvin. I was borderline obsessed with the series all through middle school, but what strikes me about having grown up with them always nearby somewhere is how well they the humor is just translated.
01:33
Throughout all of my ages, I always loved reading about how 6 year old Calvin and his tiger friend Hobbs tormented their babysitter Rosalind, or traveled through time in a cardboard box, or waged war against the neighborhood girl Susie Durkins in their treehouse meetings of G R O S S or get rid of slimy girls. But as a teenager and then an adult, I came to appreciate Waterson's more philosophical side as Calvin and Hobbes would ride a wagon or a sled through the forest, or just walk through the woods discussing environmentalism, whether art has mean, the perils of commercialism, the fragility of nature, and the dispositions of God.
02:08
If there is such a being, which I Think is one of the few examples of comic strips turning into more than three panels of setup and one of a punchline of which Calvin and Hobbes still has plenty, but also catapulting it into a realm of true literary art. Calvin ponders the meaning of life like we all do in a universe that is unresponsive to our frustrations. The way Calvin and Hobbes debate these questions is very much like our own internal monologues going back and forth with ourselves. And as an only child, Calvin's other side just takes the form of Hobbes. So why should you read it if you haven't? Well, obviously because it's hilarious. Waterson captures what it feels like to be a six year old.
02:47
That works if you're a kid yourself reading the comics or if you're observing your own looking backwards through nostalgia. How many of us haven't imagined Flash Gordonesque space adventures when we should have been paying attention in school? How many of us had, quote unquote, imaginary friends who took on personalities of their own? How many of us could play with a cardboard box for a whole weekend instead of the toy that the box was shipped in for Calvin, he can turn that box upside down, and then it's a transmogrifier that could turn him into anything that he writes on the side with a little dial. Or he can turn the box right side up and it's a time machine which he can use to see dinosaurs or travel to meet his future self and avoid doing his homework assignments.
03:27
Or when it's on its side, the box turns into a cloning machine, also to avoid doing work. Calvin is a character of boundless imagination. He hates school, but he knows everything there is to know about dinosaurs. He's driven by imagination and impulse. He's a fascination of a world without rules. Yet he also asked the big questions of life in the universe, often in the same series. He was doing something selfish or reckless at the base of it all. It's the power his parents wield over him or the confinement that school restricts him with that get at him. As a result, he can be kind of morally ambiguous, knowing right from wrong. But that doesn't stop him from being involved in the school's notorious noodle incident. Although admittedly, nobody can prove that he did that. You'll laugh later.
04:13
He's not a good kid or a bad kid. He's a human kid with all the complexity that resounds so strongly because he questions and challenges all parts of being human. The counterbalance To Calvin is of course, Hobbes, who is a true friend and sometimes antithesis. When you first start going through the comics at any random point, you might think he's simply an imaginary friend, a stuffed tiger that is alive in Calvin's mind. Or even more erroneously, some people assume that he's a stuffed tiger that magically comes to life whenever Calvin's around. Hobbs is a character who is often observant and wise, making him Calvin's internal conscience. Yet like any cat, he has a playful and mischievous side to him.
04:53
We often find him waiting by the door when Calvin comes home, waiting to tiger pounce on him, joyous that his friend is home, but also delighting in the fear that it instills in him. Hobbs is loyal and quietly affectionate, often grounding Calvin with his soothing presence. When Calvin's nature often makes him spiral out of control, he never suppresses Calvin. He helps give Calvin shape. Yet as loving as Hobbs is to Calvin, some of the strip's funniest moments are when the two are at odds with one another. Calvin boiling into a bout of pure rage and Hobbs steadfastly holding his ground with just a bit of smugness. All perfectly animated with hilarious facial expressions and dynamic posing.
05:33
This is all made even the funnier when Waterson makes us realize as onlookers pass by that it's just one kid getting all worked up by himself, yelling at a stuffed tiger pouring through the pages. You'll often find yourself looking forward to the recurring bits like his grotesque snowman, stupendous man, his lifelong crush on Susie masked with hostility, his endless attempts to cheat the system with his school test answers, playing Calvin ball, the dread that he won't get any Christmas gifts from Santa this year due to his morally ambiguous behavior, his using politics to threaten his father, that household six year old demographics aren't really optimistic about his chances of being reelected dead, avoiding the foods his mom puts out on the dinner table, the monsters hiding underneath his bed. Calvin Hobbs, mom, dad, Susie, Ms. Wormwood, Rosalyn, Mo.
06:23
You'll love and look forward to all of them and watch them evolve before your very eyes. Calvin is not the character you see peeing on things on the back of a truck, rear window. He's so much more. In fact, all of those are unlicensed. Waterson held true to his principles. He didn't try and market Calvin and Hobbes at all. Except for the books, some calendars, I think, one T shirt, anything that's like a deep decal or a toy is not something that he participated in. Calvin never peed on Ford or Chevy, but he also never knelt before the cross either. Why should you read the trade if you are familiar with it? Well, I appreciate it more and more each time I read it. It's something that I can always find something new in.
07:05
Waterson loves the comic strip format and has perfected it into a true art form. He masters those facial expressions so well. Just rereading, you'll find yourself cracking up as something as simple as one of the characters faces. You'll see him break through the very narrow formatted panels that the syndicate put upon him to turn his Sunday strips into something very dynamic and interesting with these big full pages and included in the complete book are all the little extras that Waterson included in those individual trades, still gorgeously presented in those simple watercolor paints. Anytime something bad happens to me in life, just picking up the complete Calvin and Hobbes, flipping to a random page and reading will guaranteed have me in some amount of hysterics before the night is out. So pick it up. Thanks for listening.
07:56
I hope I've inspired you to revisit my old friends. It's a magical world to go exploring in. And of course, do some happy reading, won't you?
08:07
Hey nerf herders, you sure you want.
08:09
To go with that?
08:10
Hey everyone.
08:12
There we go. More inviting.
08:14
Have you ever had a movie that you really wanted to love but something holds you back?
08:19
Or one that you did love in spite of a flaw?
08:21
Well, I'm Case Aiken.
08:23
And I'm Sam Alicea.
08:24
And on another pass we sit down with cool guests to look at movies that we find fascinating but flawed, and we try to imagine what could have been done when they were made to give them that little push.
08:35
We're not experts, we just believe in criticism.
08:39
Constructive criticism.
08:41
Sure.
08:42
So come take another pass at some.
08:43
Movies with us and every now and then we can celebrate movies that did it on their own too.
08:48
You can find us at certain POC or wherever you get your podcasts.
08:52
Pass it on.
08:56
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