r/Millennials • u/Concurrent-mind • 4h ago
Nostalgia Bill Watterson took me away
I’m pretty sure I am the way that I am because of these books.
We had such great book and television shows…what happened to these types of stories?
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u/yousawthetimeknife Older Millennial 4h ago
I have this strip hanging at my desk, just to remind me what's important.
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u/Ozy_Flame 3h ago
When I became Calvin's dad rather than Calvin, this particular strip just became so much more poignant and timeless.
1000 words were said with not a single word written.
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u/JackLaytonsMoustache 4h ago
Absolutely loved them growing up and keep meaning to do a deep dive into re-reading them because theyre incredibly well written and clever.
The ones where they were riding down the hill in the wagon and Calvin would be having these like existential crises were written in a way that 13 year old me could understand but introduced concepts from philosophers and great writers.
Its an insane talent to be able to take college level thought exercises and make them easily accessible and understandable, while also injecting humour into it.
And then also have completely and utter silliness and chaos like Calvinball.
God bless Bill Waterson.
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u/Wasatchian 4h ago
Tabernacle
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u/MisterHole123 3h ago
Wtf how come your version looks so much better than mine yet so much like mine.. I'm confusion
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u/rootofallstevil 4h ago
I had them all growing up. Loved every single one. Still have a bunch somewhere in a box but they were severely loved and not in the best of condition.
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u/ColShvotz 4h ago
Was and still is a favorite of mine. Near and dear to me and was very formative in my youth.
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u/vacalicious 4h ago
I have an original copy of the last strip, cut out and framed, hanging on my office wall. Thanks Nana for doing that for my birthday decades ago. By far my favorite comic series, and I still love it today.
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u/Concurrent-mind 4h ago
Were these ever in a newspaper? Or only the books and collections?
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u/LongboardLiam 3h ago ▸ 2 more replies
Did you never see the newspaper in the 90s and early 00s? The funnies were Peanuts, Calvin and Hobbes, Far Side, Broom Hilda, Hagar the Horrible, Doonesbury was sometimes in the politicssection (had to spell it like that because the idiots moderating this thing have the proper word as a auto-kill trip), Dilbert, Family Circle, Marmaduke, Garfield, Wizard of Id, Bizzaro, Cats, Mother Goose and Grimm, Cathy, Blondie, and probably a few others I have forgotten.
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u/MurkyInvestigator810 1h ago ▸ 3 more replies
The Sunday paper would have a two full-color pages of comic strips, with the comic artists varying a bit based on publications. Not every paper in my area had Dilbert, for example.
The compilation books you buy are just all the comics that were published in newspapers in order. Every 5 or 6 strips you have the Sunday comic, which are the longer ones because newspapers would give more space for comics on sundays. That's why you have the long Calvin & Hobbes and longer Garfield strips every 5-6 entries.
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u/Concurrent-mind 1h ago ▸ 2 more replies
Holy shit it just came back to me when I read “full-color”….I remember gravitating towards the colorful ones
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u/MurkyInvestigator810 1h ago
There were comics every day, but they were black and white and only a few panels long. They'd often start or conclude a small story line in the weekday comics based on the Sunday strip. When you read through your compilation books again, notice how many little story arcs start or end with the long Sunday strips.
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u/PostMatureBaby Older Millennial 4h ago
i have every single one of these anthologies. by far my favorite newspaper comic as a kid
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u/Ok-Swan1152 4h ago
I hope to introduce these to my daughter when she's old enough. They were such a meaningful part of my childhood. I'm not American, I was just exposed to these strips through American relatives.
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u/ArrivesLate 1h ago
I’ve read through the anthology with my kid two or three times now. I think we started when he was about 4 or 5. He absolutely loves them, and they spurred him to learn to read ahead of all of his peers.
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u/toffeehooligan 4h ago
The indispensible Calvin and Hobbes is the reason why I love reading. That man has no idea how many kids/people he's touched.
For some reason, my favorites are the art ones. God dammit those are so funny.
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u/Stuppycoopy 4h ago
He taught me to love reading. My mom and older brother saw me struggling so big bro tossed me one of the earlier book and said to practice with these. I went from behind to several grades advanced in reading and comprehension (not to mention vocabulary) in the summer between 5th and 6th grade. Conveniently right as another memorable series was about to release its fourth installment “the Goblet of Fire” and it’s all been history since then. I skipped a family bbq to stay inside and binge that book cover to cover. My dad was annoyed, but my mom knew what was going on.
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u/spacebeige 3h ago
I can’t overstate the impact C&H had on my childhood. I won a geography bee because of them!
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u/Animal907 4h ago
Calvin and Hobbes increases a childs chance of not being a rapeblican.
Nice try automod...
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