Product Description

Calvin and Hobbes is unquestionably one of the most popular comic strips of all time. The imaginative world of a boy and his real-only-to-him tiger was first syndicated in 1985 and appeared in more than 2,400 newspapers when Bill Watterson retired on January 1, 1996. More than 30 million of the 17 Calvin and Hobbes books (all published by Andrews McMeel) have been sold. And now, the entire body of Calvin and Hobbes cartoons published in a truly noteworthy tribute to this singular cartoon. Composed of three hardcover, four-color volumes in a sturdy slipcase, this edition includes all Calvin and Hobbes cartoons that ever appeared in syndication. This is the treasure that all Calvin and Hobbes fans seek.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1342 in Books
• Published on: 2005-10-04
• Released on: 2005-10-04
• Format: Box set
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 1440 pages

Amazon.com
An Excerpt from Bill Watterson's Introduction:

"I've loved comic strips as long as I can remember. As a kid, I knew I wanted to be either a cartoonist or an astronaut. The latter was never much of a possibility, as I don't even like riding in elevators. I kept my options open until seventh grade, but when I stopped understanding math and science, my choice was made. There is great personal satisfaction in attending to detail and quality, and I remain very proud of the standards the strip met day after day. I also liked the responsibility of knowing that, succeed or fail, it was all my own doing. This approach kept the strip very honest and personal--everything having to do with Calvin and Hobbes expressed my own ideas, my own values, my own way. I wrote every word, drew every line, and painted every color. It's a rare gift to find such fulfilling work and I tried to show my appreciation by giving the strip everything I had to offer."

Exclusive Images from the New Collection More Calvin and Hobbes Books

The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book

Weirdos from Another Planet!

Attack of the Deranged Mutant Killer Monster Snow Goons

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. [Signature]Reviewed by Art SpiegelmanBy the 1980s the once glorious newspaper comics section had become a wasteland, ravaged by shrinking space, editorial timidity and other ills. The real excitement in my medium had moved to the fertile margins of the alternative press. Bill Watterson, as uninterested in underground comix as I was in the mass media's bland concoctions, marched directly into the wasteland and made the comatose syndicated strip form kick up its heels and dance.From 1985 until Watterson abandoned it at the height of its popularity 10 years later, Calvin and Hobbes echoed the classic strips the artist most admired. Stirring the richly conceived characters and efficient drawing of Peanuts with the visual virtuosity and linguistic playfulness of Pogo and Krazy Kat, he applied his intelligence and supple cartoon skills to come up with a creation beloved by the millions who still mourn its passing.Now, a decade after his demise, six-year-old Calvin has a fitting monument—a lavishly produced three-volume boxed collection of all the strips, which weighs as much as a tombstone. Following in the wake of Gary Larson's The Complete Far Side, and with a 250,000-copy "limited edition" first printing, the publisher realistically predicts that this book will be "the heaviest and most expensive book ever to hit the New York Times best seller list." While not as exquisitely wrought as Walt and Skeezix, the recently launched reprinting of Frank King's epic run of Gasoline Alley, or as intimate and dignified as Fantagraphics' ongoing republication of all 50 years of Peanuts, this luxurious set is dressed for success and deserves an honored spot on the happily expanding shelves of strip reprints.The Complete Calvin and Hobbes offers two intertwined narratives. One details the friendship between Calvin—the egotistical, feverishly imaginative, wised-up young tyke with the vocabulary of a Yale lit major—and his animal familiar, Hobbes. Hobbes is seen by Calvin's parents as a nondescript plush toy and by Calvin and the reader as a pouncing and amiable "real" tiger—Calvin's slightly-more-sensible better half. The crosscutting between private and shared reality gives the strip its vitality.The autobiographical introduction by the notoriously reclusive Watterson kicks off another tale about the collision of private and shared realities: the story of an ornery artist's battle to explore his craft within the claustrophobic confines of a few inches of newsprint space. The beleaguered Watterson fights the strictures of brutal daily deadlines, skirmishes with editors to win more space for his often graceful Sunday pages, slugs it out with his syndicate to keep his creation from being reduced to a stuffed doll. The later strips begin to dwell obsessively on the horrors of our dumbed-down commodity culture, and there's something poignant about the artist's hopeless struggle to work within the confines of mass culture while simultaneously critiquing it. These books offer a testament to Watterson's dedication and to the medium's ability to keep reinventing itself against all odds. (Oct.)Art Spiegelman is the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Maus and In the Shadow of No Towers.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Customer Reviews

Very good collection
Very good collection! Shipping should have more padding to protect box hich is quite heavy and avoid denting.

Wondeful!
Ever since the Far Side collection came out, I had dreamed of the day they released a Calvin and Hobbes set.
It's a great collection and looks good too.

The books are heavy, and a little bit big, so if you have a small bookcase, you might not be able to fit this on the shelves easily.

It's worth it: trust me!
Bill Watterson managed in a relatively short time to fulfill something few cartoonist do in their entire careers: to create 2 classic an enternal characters, worthy of a place of honor in the Pantheon of comic strips, right along the Peanuts gang & Garfield.

And then, when he felt he had accomplished the goal set for himself, and had nothing left to prove to anyone, Watterson decided to say good-bye to his beloved hyper-active 6-year old & his inseparable feline accomplice just when they were at the top of their game; free to continue their amazing adventures fueled by the inexhaustible imagination of Calvin, their fantasy world unlimited except for when it's time to go to bed or finish homework--and sometimes not even then!

In this beautifully-crafted box collection resides the entirety of Calvin & Hobbes, from the very first strips that appeared on newspapers in 1986, to the very last sledding trip they took to explore their "magical world".

Now I know what some of you may be thinking, because I had the same doubts: "sure they look nice, but IS IT WORTH IT?". Well, in this humble enthusiast's opinion, the answer is a rotund "yes!".

For starters these books are HUGE. They let you focus on every tiny detail Watterson drew, inked and painted that made this strip stand out from the rest; all the attention and love he used to portray those wonderful dinosaurs, or the woods where Calvin & Hobbes spent so many idle hours together. In fact, the size of the books may be ironically the very single thing I may not like about them, but only because it is kind of uncomfortable to enjoy these jewels if you're already tucked in your bed! No, I recommend instead that you to choose a nice comfy armchair when perusing the alien landscapes of "Spaceman Spiff", or the heroic deeds of "Stupendous Man" fighting the evil "Mom Lady".

The quality of the paper is also of note, along with the printing that managed to capture all the richness & subtleties of the watercolors Watterson enjoyed so much to apply in his work. The man truly believed in the art of his medium and felt his readers deserved nothing but the best of what could come out of him.

So overall I seriously urge you to consider the investment of acquiring this wonderful collection. These books are intended to last a lifetime, and will probably be a matter of protest between your future inheritors--unless of course, you end up deciding you want to be buried with them :-)