Calvin and Hobbes is Entertainment at its Best
Reviewed by
an Amazon user,
September 18, 2006
Calvin and his stuffed tiger Hobbes wreck havoc as usual in this awesome collection of Watterson's timeless comic. Whether Calvin's wild imagination is dreaming of prehistoric dinosaurs or planning a mischevious attack on his arch-rival (fellow classmate Suzie Derkins), you're sure to enjoy the unexplainable antics of this troublesome six year old boy.
This particular collection starts with a series of cartoons depicting Calvin with chicken pox. Wouldn't you know it, as soon as he finds out he's contagious, he invites Suzie over to play. That crazy kid.
Individual comics follow, but then another series emerges - one where Calvin's bike attacks him upon every attempt at riding it, and his parents remain clueless about how his face could EVER get caught in the bike's chain.
In another series, we see Calvin's "Get Rid Of Slimy girlS" club planning a failed water balloon assault on Suzie, resulting in the disappearance of Hobbes. Hobbes does some smooching with the enemy and is labeled as a traitor.
We also see Calvin struggling in math, losing a 25 cent bet to Suzie after failing a quiz. He spends all his test time daydreaming he's interplanetary hero Spaceman Spiff, and is only able to do one lousy problem.
When the Christmas season approaches, poor Calvin has to avoid throwing snowballs at Suzie so he won't lose any of his Christmas loot.
The amusing title series of this collection is definitely one of my favorites. Calvin builds monster snowmen that (in his mind anyway) come to life and threaten his existence, so he freezes the whole front yard with the garden hose to protect himself, much to the dismay of his father.
Last but not least, Calvin builds a human duplicating machine out of a cardboard box, and he makes a special copy of himself that represents everything good in him. His plan is to make his flawless duplicate do all of his homework and chores, while he himself gets all the credit. Everything goes fine for a while, until his duplicate develops a crush on Suzie, making him look bad. Hilarity ensues.
Inbetween each of the series are individual comic strips with recurring themes. Open-minded Calvin bugs his parents with questions like, "Why do I have to play outside?" "Why can't we watch TV during dinner?" "If we were cannibals, what parts of people would we eat?" Calvin also grosses out Suzie at every opportunity whenever it's time for lunch at school.
We see Calvin engaging in some of his less frequent behaviors as well, such as digging for dinosaur bones in the front yard and demanding his parents and teachers address him as "Calvin the Bold."
Great, great collection. I loved it years ago and still love it today. Best comic ever in my opinion.
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