Calvin and Hobbes

Spaceman Spiff is hit.  He grabs hold of his spacecraft's controls as it rockets toward the hostile, alien planet below.  The ship crashes and Spiff emerges unscathed.  He walks the planet for days.  Spiff collapses as he watches an alien beast approach.  Could this be our super hero's ultimate demise?  What's that?  The beast is bringing food.

"Calvin, bring back the dishes when you are done."

"Thanks Mom."

Classic Calvin.

The tiger crouches down as he patiently awaits his prey.  The door opens. 

"I'm home!"

The tiger springs, he flies through the air with limbs extended.  KAPOW, he strikes!  Arms, legs and fur tornado the screen. 

"Why do you always do that?"

"Natural exuberance is one of those qualities that makes us tigers so darn endearing!"

Classic Hobbes

Pleasant memories from Ohio came roaring down Interstate 75 when I read Mike Wilson's article on Calvin and Hobbes in the Tampa Bay Times!  Mike says that the St. Petersburg Times (same publisher) will be publishing the famous Calvin and Hobbes comic strip until the end of this year.  Author Bill Watterson hopes to spike sales for his new book The Complete Calvin and Hobbes, by running previous comic strips.  The book is due out in early October.

What was it about a six-year old kid and his imaginary tiger that captivated the attention of so many adults?  For me it was utter and complete, free and uninhibited imagination.  Author Bill Watterson seems to peel back the outer layer of reality.  All kids hate to take a bath.  Calvin doesn't simply frown, moan and whine.  He transmogrifies.  He turns into Spaceman Spiff.  The alien beasts have captured him.  They are about to drop him into a vat of boiling water. Calvin's Mom drops him into the bathtub in the next scene.  Or, how Calvin becomes extinct.

In a sense, Watterson offers up visual metaphors.  He paints pictures of what lies just beneath consciousness.  These pictures help to connect us to memories.  Some memories are whole, some fragmented. Even the fragemented ones have enough of a toe hold to grab on to. Once we've brought the memory into focus, there is no choice but to overlay it with what we now know as adults.  For instance, as kids we might not have liked the babysitter.  When we saw her coming up the driveway though, we didn't ask our parents where the guns were.  And if they said they didn't have guns, we didn't ask them where the wooden mallet and stake were. 

Calvin said, "It's a magical world, ol' buddy...let's go exploring!"

I think Calvin and Hobbes is a most excellent way to go exploring and to free our imagination.

 

Comments

[Steve Sherlock]

Yes, I agree. I wish I could draw. Then some of my writing I could spice up with a picture. A good picture can tell a story, and sometimes convey the message better than the most carefully crafted words. I expect with your writing skill, you could do some good pictures! You do know how to tell a story. Do you draw?

[Dave]

Thanks for commenting Steve! No, I do not draw. But it is in my future to one day hook up with an illustrator. I made that determination the minute I laid eyes on Roy Williams' work in his Wizard of Ads book trilogy.