It was 30 years ago this last New Years Eve that this wonderful strip came to an end:
As they say, time does fly. True to form, Watterson has never attempted any big comeback. By all accounts, he took the tremendous fortune he received from the strip and retired into a quiet life and pursing what projects interest him.
In its day, Calvin and Hobbes emerged as the comic strip that everyone was reading. From the blue collar to the Ivy League. It had come about in that golden age of comics in the 1980s. You still had the politically charged Doonesbury. And the grand dame of all comic strips, Peanuts, still dominated the top front page of the comics section. Also came Bloom County, an edgy and surreal comic strip that wasn't afraid to offend everyone. At the same time, you saw debut that strange unreal world of the Far Side. But among them all C&H skyrocketed to the top of the class.
The good news is that Watterson did what so few ever seem to know to do - he got out while on top. Oh, looking back you could see the cracks. You could tell he was losing his edge, becoming more preachy, and beginning to betray some of the rules he had laid out for the strip early on. But that was only toward the end. There was still enough good that when he finally closed up shop, he was still near the top of his game. And that's never bad.
(Tom New Poster)
ReplyDeleteWillie Mays famously said he would leave baseball when it wasn't fun anymore and of course ignored his own advice. Sometimes audience drags an author back (Conan Doyle, L. Frank Baum), and a few keep their good fortune to the end (Charles Shulz and perhaps Charles Dickens). When I thought of retirement from teaching, I had in mind a school secretary, liked if never really beloved, good if never really great, who passed up chance after chance to retire gracefully until she was in her mid-80s, pretty useless, cranky and isolated, and left not to cheers and good wishes so much as sighs of relief. I could have stayed a little longer (and kids and staff wanted me to), but while I still volunteer for yard duty and the occasional sub, I know I left in good time.
Definitely better to leave on top. The opposite being the case of Michael Jordan. Probably the ultimate case of doing it wrong. He originally retired after making the game winning shot in his last championship game. What a way to go out! But then he came back and had to be benched. A lesson to be sure.
DeleteHeh. And just this year for Christmas I finally got the complete Calvin and Hobbes collection. (I used to have the entire run memorized.)
ReplyDeleteSearch engine for the comic btw.
https://michaelyingling.com/random/calvin_and_hobbes/
That looks like an awesome page, unfortunately it also looks like you have to pay.
DeleteIndeed.
ReplyDeleteTo me, being the parent of young children at the time, the most compelling scenes were of his parents, and how they contrasted with Calvin's fantasy world. At one point Calvin tells Hobbes, "You don't get to be a parent unless you can deal with stuff like this."
Examples:
Calvin tells his Dad they're being invaded by aliens and to get out the guns. The Dad, calmly buttoning his shirt for work, astounds Calvin by saying, "We don't have any guns." "What?? No guns??"
Or the time Calvin and Hobbes get into the car, put it in neutral, and it rolls back into the ditch across the street. Mom comes to get Calvin and he's sure he's in real trouble now. Instead Mom hugs him and is thankful he's all right. He's totally puzzled.
Or the time Dad fixes Calvin's toy, and Calvin calls up to Mom, "Hey Mom! Dad actually fixed something!!" "Whoa -- I'll be right down -- I've got to see this!!" Which pisses off Dad no end. I know that feeling!
I recall that Watterson purposefully did not name his mom and dad because they were important only as seen from his perspective. It's why after he tried to bring in the character of an uncle, the idea was scrapped. He didn't want him to have a name, and conversations in which the adults never call each other by name proved too awkward. But Watterson definitely got kids and adults, that's for sure. I always loved the interactions with his dad, who in some cases seemed to draw nothing but contempt from Calvin, and at other times clearly intimidated him. His dad also seemed to have a somewhat stoic view, despite Calvin's menace to society ways. After he loses his temper when Calvin breaks a pair of binoculars, he then composes himself and apologizes for yelling, much to Calvin's amazement. Then he leans back and calmly says 'Sure, in another ten years, you'll probably be wrecking my car.'
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