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The most magnificent thing about Calvin and Hobbes is ..... Calvin and Hobbes. The second most magnificent thing is Calvin and Hobbes was never licensed. The
by andrewstuart 3y ago
The most magnificent thing about Calvin and Hobbes is ..... Calvin and Hobbes.
The second most magnificent thing is Calvin and Hobbes was never licensed.
The third most magnificent thing is it stopped whilst it was awesome instead of being wrung out for every penny.
There's no films, no sequels. You can't buy a licensed tshirt with Calvin and Hobbes on it. There's no licensed merchandise. No one has made it into a live action movie. Calvin and Hobbes are not available this month on MacDonalds cups if you buy a second whopper burger. You can't buy plush toys of Hobbes. There isn't a Christmas special TV show. Giant balloon figures of Calvin and Hobbes do not appear in city parades.
Imagine if Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit had been kept so pristine.
- abnry 3y agoWas Tolkien alive while LoTR was massively marketed? Hate to say it, but give 50 years, I wouldn't be surprised if Calvin and Hobbes turns into what you described.
- cool_dude85 3y agoDoes Watterson have kids to, how to put it politely, realize the great potential of his iconic IP?
- User23 3y agoJ.R.R. Tolkien himself sold the film rights to United Artists. Also, for what it's worth, it's hard to imagine a better executor than Christopher Tolkien. He basically spent his entire life serving his father's artistic interests.
- faichai 3y agoI honestly find this quite sad. Dude should have lived his own life, but instead lived in the shadow of his father.
- bigstrat2003 3y agoI don't think it's sad at all, I think it's a touching act of love. To spend your life caring for the work someone else left behind is generous and something I find admirable.
- prmoustache 3y agoI think it can be both.
- jl6 3y agoHaving a famous or accomplished parent is a blessing and a curse.
- bcardarella 3y agoAll depends what Watterson does with his estate when that time comes. Watterson has shown to have a greater resolve for his position on this than most others and it wouldn't surprise me that he has this figured out to prevent anything until the copyright runs its course.
- boomboomsubban 3y ago>Imagine if Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit had been kept so pristine. I find it unlikely I would have heard about them, my local library was full of books from the 50's I had never heard of and was reluctant to read. Seeing the Hobbit cartoon gave me an interest in it that I followed up on in middle school. On that note, the only way most children will hear of Calvin and Hobbes is if their parents were big fans or through the many unlicensed products available. Maybe that's fine, but people seem strangely proud that's the case.
- OfSanguineFire 3y agoWatterson himself was inspired by comic strips from the early 20th century. There were no cartoons or film adaptations of those around, but nevertheless they remained around for him to discover through books.
- boomboomsubban 3y agoFrom Wikipedia, >(Calvin and Hobbes) borrows several elements and themes from three major influences: Walt Kelly's Pogo, George Herriman's Krazy Kat and Charles M. Schulz's Peanuts. Pogo ran until ten years before Calvin and Hobbes started, and had several animated adaptations, including one in 1980. Krazy Kat had ~100 cartoons made between 1916 and 1965. And Peanuts has been marketed to death. I wouldn't be surprised if he read more early 20th century comics without adaptations, but that likely happened after he already had a deep interest in the medium. People that get really into comics can independently discover Calvin and Hobbes, but they're going to be a minority
- ImprovedSilence 3y agoEveryone knew about LOTR and read the books before the movies came out. It was in no way some obscure out of print lit, it was both pop and a cult classic, and it was very much front and center of any must read fantasy bookshelf. Hence the wildly profitable movies.
- emptyfile 3y ago
- Exoristos 3y agoThey were, for a long time.
- OfSanguineFire 3y ago> The third most magnificent thing is it stopped whilst it was awesome The last couple of years of C&H featured increasing criticism of modern society (e.g. modern art, advertising) that seemed rather grumpy and “old man yells at cloud”. Sure, Watterson stopped before the strip could have gone in an overtly sociopolitical direction like some of its peers, but the strip was no longer quite as timeless and innocent as it had been.
- windowshopping 3y agoStrong disagree. Loved every comic from beginning to end and did not observe any such trend.
- syndicatedjelly 3y agoI was a kid when the series finished, and got my first comic “The Indispensable Calvin & Hobbes” when I was 6. Granted I was young, but the “political” stuff was what made it funny. Young me found the storylines totally puzzling, yet hilarious. Even after I got older and started understanding the “political” comics more, it didn’t really bother me. Calvin and Hobbes explore philosophy more than politics, in my view. The main characters are named after 17th century philosophers John Calvin and Thomas Hobbes, after all
- LastTrain 3y ago[flagged]
- OfSanguineFire 3y agoWhat a bizarre reaction to my post. Watterson’s complaints about modern art, for example, are conservative, and it is people on the other end of the divide who might be turned off by that. Watterson in the mid 1990s was an aging Midwestern white male, and some traits of conservatism are exactly what one would expect from that demographic.
- LastTrain 3y agoThe political views in Calvin and Hobbes, where they exist at all, are much more in line with 60's counter-culture: anti-consumerism, distrust of authority figures, labor issues. Where there are right-leaning references (e.g. "Commies") they are mocking. Think Colonel Flag in MASH. My reaction was not bizarre, I live in a deeply red place where at least once in every social gathering I get to hear some harp about "the media" or political correctness, so I know it when I see it. It is amusing because it is so enshrined in "modern" conservative culture (well, not so modern, it started in the early 90s...) to complain about this that it creeps into everything.
- drschwabe 3y agoIronically now with AI art tech the fans themselves can now carry on the series as they like (including making animated flicks). Not saying this wouldn't violate C&H's IP protections nor that the resulting product will have the same essence but a creative+technically inclined fan tinkering in spare time now has the power to create an all new 'Calvin & Hobbes book' of their dreams. Even if they want to just do it for fun on their own. Of course, if you were to put in enough effort to make a complete book (ie- 100+ page Sunday comic collections) that could stand among the rest in the original series probably best to adjust your art style, theme and content enough away from the original to make what you are doing essentially a spiritual successor - enabling you to comfortably share it with the outside world.
- Obscurity4340 3y agoWhy do people care so much about...I don't know if there's a word for this...I wanna say serial integrity as in integrity of the series? If I like a general premise and cast I have zero issue with them doing dogshit if they're having fun and it simply produces more content on a quantitative basis that can add to the binge rewatching duration value? Maybe I'm just weird like that.
- syndicatedjelly 3y agoYou sound like the advertising industry’s ideal consumer.
- Obscurity4340 3y agoAll I care about is hanging out with "my friends" more, I guess I develop enough of an emotionally-compelling connection with shows/works + the characters/actors I like that I kinda never want it to end and its moot to consider the welfare of the characters or overall quality because its all abstract or academic anyway and I derive such sustained benefit or enjoyment from it continuing in perpetuity. Nothings getting solved or done or any progression truly achieved anyway so who gives a fuck? Film critics be damned, if Im happier and my mental health is better and I enjoy mysef on account of this, I really could care less about critical acclaim. Its the actors' job(s) to worry about consequences like typecasting or regret or whatever
- throw_pm23 3y agoYou seem to be saying that you are a "non-discerning customer" when it comes to this type of work, and that's fine if it works for you. Others find works produced only for money to be lower quality or heartless. Maybe you similarly care about stuff in some other aspect of life (food? clothing? music? personal relationships?), just not for movies/comics.
- Obscurity4340 3y agoI would argue that your discernment angle is literally just that in a similar sense with how critical theory folks approach works from various sociological and literary angles to the extent you could say those are component to the same work rather than ever possibly definitive or representative, much less appraisable objectively as implicitly superior. Like dividing by zero. Its not answerable and also discernment seemingly is axiomatic to the point its basically no different from religion or palate/taste.
- shortrounddev2 3y agoPersonally I find the films far more approachable than the books. There's too much goddamned singing in LOTR and the prose doesn't feel nearly as dark and serious as the films
- OfSanguineFire 3y agoAs a Germanicist who was also enchanted by Finnish, Tolkien’s inspirations lay in things like the Icelandic sagas and the Kalevala, which are replete with singing or composition of poems. (The Kalevala was sung, and in works like Egil’s Saga the prose narrative is frequently interrupted to present an intricate poem.) After all, there was a close link between song, poetry, and magic in ancient northern Europe.
- Affric 3y ago> there was a close link between song, poetry, and magic in ancient northern Europe. Across all Europe. Song and magic have been associated for Millenia across Europe and the Mediterranean.
- anthk 3y agoThis. I think these Nordicists should have a look on Iberia's folklore such as the pre-Christian Cantabric and Basque lore.
- ekianjo 3y ago> prose doesn't feel nearly as dark and serious as the films Are we talking about the same movies with the walt disney happy ending?
- pjscott 3y agoHuh. That’s exactly the opposite of the impression I got. The books seemed properly solemn when it counted, more so than the movies, and I found that the poems really added to the atmosphere. (I’m particularly fond of the ones sung by Gimli and Galadriel; as sad and wistful as they were, they managed to convey a lot of mood and emotion in just a few carefully-chosen words.)
- davidw 3y ago> Imagine if Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit had been kept so pristine. No Leonard Nimoy song about Bilbo Baggins? C'mon...
- cornstalks 3y agoFor those who want to see something that can never be unseen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BC35cQKHwzg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BC35cQKHwzg
- stavros 3y agoDO NOT CLICK this link! It contains Leonard Nimoy singing a horrible song about Bilbo Baggins, accompanied by an even worse music video. It's like the "Fichtl's Lied" video, if it ruined your entire childhood and everything you hold dear.
- boomboomsubban 3y agoOr it's a dumb catchy novelty song about Bilbo Baggins. How can you survive on an internet containing rule 34 if this song is enough to ruin your childhood?
- stavros 3y agoWell, I didn't spend my childhood having sex, perhaps regrettably.
- boomboomsubban 3y agoSure, but according to rule 34 Bilbo Baggins did spend your childhood having copious amounts of sex.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- 3y ago
- Serenacula 3y agoI dunno, a Hobbes cuddly toy sounds pretty cool to me. I'm not convinced a refusal to market at all is a good thing.
- 7thaccount 3y agoYep. A little marketing ensures it gets passed on to the next generation.
- GloriousKoji 3y agoI know IP laws like copyright and trademarks are vilified because of how companies like Disney and Nintendo weaponized them but I appreciate how the spirit of the law is still kept intact when protecting things like Calvin and Hobbes.
- jessriedel 3y agoAllowing an artist to control their own art for justice/purity/authenticity reasons is not the spirit of the law. The stated purpose of IP law is to incentivize useful things. Calvin & Hobbes is an example of the law being used contrary to its intended purpose. > “To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.”
- toyg 3y agoYour definition of "progress" is telling. Someone else's definition of progress could include a heightened respect for comic strips as art, rather than base fodder for merchandise and commercial exploitation. Watterson's stance did help with that, at a time (late '80s) when it was still a very niche position in the US.
- grotorea 3y agoAnd isn't what you're calling "merchandise and commercial exploitation" art too? Is a movie not art just because it's licensed?
- toyg 3y agoWith all due respect to Warhol and friends, IMHO a tin of soup is a tin of soup. A cereal box featuring C&H is something we can all live without. This is particularly true for comics, which have historically been seen as fodder for other industries in the US and need all the attention they can get as an art-form in their own right.
- 3y ago
- ekianjo 3y ago> Imagine if Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit had been kept so pristine. You can count on the estate to go for easy money grab every time
- smoyer 3y agoWell ... Now I want a "Calvin and Hobbits" cartoon strip!
- tmccrary55 3y agoThe bravest little tiger of them all!
- jprd 3y agoYou had me until that last sentence ;) Additionally, one of my most cherished t-shirts is an homage to C&H that is instead Rey and Chewie in the same style.
- whartung 3y agoAll that said, IMHO, having Peanuts characters on MetLife ads, or visiting Camp Snoopy doesn’t cheapen or weaken the original strips. “Merry Christmas Charlie Brown” and “Great Pumpkin” are both pure, done by Schulz rather than handed off. It’s Schulz bringing his work to life how he wanted it done. Did he have Guaraldi music in his head when he created the characters? Dunno. Do you think it really changed them for him? Dunno either, but seems unlikely. I have the 4 volume C & H boxed set. I was there, mostly, reading it daily from the beginning to the end. I’m pretty sure I have the final strip saved from when it was published in a box somewhere. Mad respect for Watterson, his work, his vision. That said, I’d be first in line for a Hobbes doll. I had a pirate Spaceman Spiff sticker on the back of my motorcycle helmet. I don’t think an Opus the Penguin doll had any real impact on Breatheds work, but at the same time he stopped the licensing, so who knows. The work stands on its own. I’ve never read LoTR. I don’t know if it’s impacted how people view the books. I do know that I’ve watched the trilogy at least once a year since its release. Calvin is Calvin. Opus is Opus. Snoopy is Snoopy. And Waterson will do as he likes with his work. I just think his work is stronger than he, perhaps, thinks it is.
- WalterBright 3y agoMy favorite Peanuts ripoff is a ditty from Jeff Gilbert's "Brain Pain" circa 1989 or so: kids: Trick or treat! kid 1: I got a popcorn ball! kid 2: I got a fudge ball! kid 3: I got a pack of gum! Charlie Brown: I gotta rock! <heavy metal ensues> Gawd I miss Jeff Gilbert's show. He should have been syndicated nationally, rather than just a local thing.
- bugglebeetle 3y agoThe sweatshops, landfills, and oceans full of Peanuts trash and conspicuous absence of Calvin and Hobbes junk says otherwise.
- gosub100 3y agoRegardless of their authenticity, without C&H there would be no bumper stickers of Calvin urinating.
- 7thaccount 3y agoI just wanted to add that Calvin & Hobbes was a huge part of my childhood and something that I've yearned to get more of, but there's none more to be had. I recently discovered "Phoebe and her Unicorn" is pretty amazing as well and although a different comic, has a lot in common and there are many strips to read. https://www.gocomics.com/phoebe-and-her-unicorn/2012/04/25 https://www.gocomics.com/phoebe-and-her-unicorn/2012/04/25
- wlonkly 3y agoI've heard good Hobbesian things about Frazz[1], too. [1] https://www.gocomics.com/frazz https://www.gocomics.com/frazz
- awongh 3y agoThe whole thing feels very pre-internet, I have a feeling that the arc of Calvin and Hobbes would look different today if Watterson hadn’t had to bitterly fight the syndicate for so long and had a Patreon instead
- jhbadger 3y ago>Imagine if Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit had been kept so pristine. It kind of was until fairly recently with the Jackson films. Growing up in the 1970s and 1980s we basically just had the books. Yes, there were animated versions of The Hobbit and LOTR in the late 1970s, but they were fairly obscure and before VCRs became common in the 1980s, it was difficult to even see them.
- blackoil 3y agoI understand aversion to over commercialization. But I don't think world would have been a better place without Jackson's movies and Batman/Spiderman animated. In the end, it is creator's choice and no choice is better/worse.
- prmoustache 3y ago> In the end, it is creator's choice and no choice is better/worse. Until he dies, then all bets are off.
- irrational 3y agoBut, someday it will enter the public domain. At that point we will see if it remains so pristine.
- toyg 3y agoIt will be past 2060. Chances are, by then, the mainstream won't care. Do you still care about Little Nemo, Yellow Kid, the Spirit...? The few names from Golden age strips that you actually care about (Flash Gordon, Tarzan...) had already been exploited well before the time IP expiration entered the picture. The mainstream has a very short memory.
- mweatherill 3y agoThough there are some fantastic bootleg strips. This is probably the most famous: https://imgur.com/pGeiHgt https://imgur.com/pGeiHgt
- coldtea 3y ago>There's no films, no sequels. You can't buy a licensed tshirt with Calvin and Hobbes on it. There's no licensed merchandise. No one has made it into a live action movie. Calvin and Hobbes are not available this month on MacDonalds cups if you buy a second whopper burger. You can't buy plush toys of Hobbes. There isn't a Christmas special TV show. Giant balloon figures of Calvin and Hobbes do not appear in city parades. Hopefully, by the time there are new copyright owners (after Watterson) and want to do all of the above, it wont be a possibility anymore, because the Gen Alphas wouldn't know or care what Calvin and Hobbes was, and wont be able to follow such "heavy literature" anyway. >Imagine if Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit had been kept so pristine. If only...
- TehShrike 3y agoI bought a big pile of C&H books and my kids are devouring them with as much appreciation as I did when I was their age. I see no reason why my grandkids won't do the same
- CalRobert 3y agoMy daughter is six (so gen alpha) and she latched on to my old calvin and hobbes books and has read them all repeatedly. Not saying you're wrong but the appeal seems to go across generations. What I really notice is that Calvin roams freely outside, and is her age. I don't really feel comfortable letting my own kid do that :-\.
- beebmam 3y agoLord of the Rings and the Hobbit are better with the films. Can't say the same for A Song of Ice and Fire.
- peppercat10 3y agoIt's bittersweet to me that there isn't more Calvin and Hobbes. I understand the "quit while you're ahead" mindset, but I read some fan-made webcomic where Calvin and Susie were now adult parents, and it felt great to read some C&H again in some shape or form.
- Obscurity4340 3y agoI think we're gonna get along just fine. Chime in if you can
- Obscurity4340 3y agoSorry ignore this please
- Natsu 3y ago> Imagine if Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit had been kept so pristine. I dunno if it's that pristine, it ended up with decals of Calvin peeing on various logos for reasons that remain inscrutable to me to this day. I did enjoy reading them as a kid and I had all the collections. It was very sad when the comic ended at nearly the same time as the Far Side comics.
- mongol 3y agoThere was a Swedish comic like this, "Bamse". Probably the most popular comic for children in the 70s-80s. It's creator had socialist leanings and had no interest in licensing the IP. He passed a way quite a while back, and suffice to say, his children did not see it the same way. Now there are plenty of opportunities to buy Bamse merchandise, meet him in special parks or buy his meal at the burger chain.
- rob74 3y agoI can't stress enough how unheard of it is for a comic strip artist to just walk out on his creation. Usually there are only two possible ends: either the strip gets cancelled when its popularity drops, or the author works on it until they drop dead (happened to Charles Schulz with Peanuts and will probably happen to Jim Davis with Garfield). Some strips are even continued by other artists (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blondie_(comic_strip) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blondie_(comic_strip)). Reminds me of R.E.M. (one of my favorite bands) who also decided in 2011 to call it a day and split amicably, thus escaping the fate of all other rock bands who either implode because their members can't stand each other anymore or go on until they, well, drop dead.
- voisin 3y ago> You can't buy plush toys of Hobbes. I think my childhood would’ve been enhanced by having one, but I agree on your other points. Perhaps the answer is that licensing in moderation can be done thoughtfully? It doesn’t have to be a Garfield-esque free for all.
- codeisawesome 3y agoI would like to respectfully dissent, I like most of those things! Also Peter Jackson’s (first) trilogy wouldn’t be made…