Calvin once said "The secret to happiness is to lower your expectations to such a level where they are already met". Somehow, in this high octane, winner gets all world, it seems to make all the sense. I mean what is it we are running after ? Why the rush ? Who exactly are we racing against and why ?




The above strip is especially important in C&H history because it recounts Watterson's travails as he fought to protect his artistic integrity. The strip is a veiled attack on the cartoon syndicate when it was trying to force Watterson to merchandise his strip, something that he was vehemently against. In his Kenyon speech, Watterson has mentioned how such 'business decisions' sought to take him away from his true love and tried to turn his characters into empty symbols and how the syndicate failed to understand Watterson's earnest refusal for earn extra millions by consenting to Hobbes dolls and Calvin coffee cups.What the syndicate failed to see was that it was indeed a black and white decision for Watterson as he mentions in the strip. His love for cartooning far outweighed his desire to make money out of it and that is one of the reasons I have so much respect for him.

Moe the Bully

Moe was the only character in the strip who uses lower case letters to speak. In the words of Watterson, he represents every jerk he ever knew. In the above strips, Watterson wonders over how apathetic some people sometimes can be and how insensitive their behavior can be. I share this outlook in the sense that I do not understand why courage is weighed in the currency of brawn and brashness in this society and why aggressiveness is seen as manly and macho.

Rose tinted glasses

Its a very interesting point that Watterson discusses here. Should entertainment be a mirror for the society or should it act as a respite from its travails ? On one hand he hints at what he thinks should be the role of entertainment in its purest form (art ?) and on the other he sarcastically observes the degradation of popular television. He rues at the immense chasm through which visual entertainment is separated from reality and silently snubs the trivial issues that Television is trying to impress upon its viewers as matters that should be given extremely serious concern (weight and oral hygiene) as opposed to really serious matters like ethics, morality, religion etc.

Hiccups

We get a peek here at Watterson's dismay at the way humanity has carried out her affairs on Earth. Although his attack is not as full blown as in some of his other strips, we do get a slight taste of his opinions in the second strip above.

Smile Please :)

A long running gag on C&H. Calvin's utter unwillingness at having his photo taken and his father's dogged determination to have that one shot where his son atleast vaguely resembles a homo sapien !

Barely Edible !

Watterson was famous for employing plush images replete with elaborate action and a phenomenal grasp of kinetics. As beautiful as the cartoons above are, it is Watterson's wry humor that beautifies the strip. Especially the last panel where Calvin derides the food in the most sternest of words and also makes it seem like he is praising it for what little taste it has. His mother's one liner is the stealer !

Disillusionment

This is one of the great gems by Watterson. The premise is so simple, yet the import is so overwhelming. Its hopelessness and desperation at its purest. By as simple an image as a boy going to school against his wishes, Watterson manages to evoke the feeling of utter devastation when dreams get broken.