These are the first two strips ever of Calvin and Hobbes, the daily comic strip adventures of an imaginative boy and his stuffed tiger. I fear Calvin is nowadays better known for the unauthorized window stickers that depict him nastily pissing on various things, but the actual comic strip, by Bill Watterson, was sweet, thoughtful, and very funny. Calvin was not a nasty little punk–he was a smart kid, a bit of a loner, who frequently got lost in his own imaginary worlds. The artwork was always excellent, influenced by the legendary Krazy Kat comic strip that ran in the first half of the 20th century. Anyway, you can now read online the complete run of Calvin and Hobbes here, which ran from 1985-1995, and there’s even a dialogue search engine if you want to look up a particular strip. The format’s a little unwieldy–you may need to do a lot of scrolling if you’re not sure what you’re looking for–and who’s to say how legal this is, so it may get taken down soon.
Ned Lannamann is a writer and editor in Portland, Oregon. He writes about film, music, TV, books, travel, tech, food, drink, outdoors, and other things. More by Ned Lannamann
Not a slow news day, eh, Matt?
I rest me, excuse me, my case.
Next!
Goddamnit, Ned. I was supposed to get a bunch of work done today. Thanks for swooping in and making sure that doesn’t happen.
My favorite C and H is the one where Calvin does his own hair for Picture Day at school and he asks Hobbes, “Is it cool? Is it New Wave?”
I ask myself these same questions every single day.
I wish there could be a law passed where any asshat with one of those heinous stickers on their vehicle was publicly humiliated.
Oh wait, if everyone would simply interpret them as what they really mean (dipshit redneck douche on board), problem solved!