Calvin & Hobbes

Calvin and Hobbes is a comic strip which was written and illustrated by Bill Watterson, following the humorous antics of Calvin, an imaginative six-year-old boy, and Hobbes, his energetic and sardonic – albeit stuffed – tiger. Syndicated from November 18, 1985 until December 31, 1995, at its height Calvin and Hobbes was carried by over 2,400 newspapers worldwide. To date, almost 23 million copies of 17 Calvin and Hobbes books have been printed. The strip is set in the contemporary United States, in the outskirts of suburbia. Most strips avoid giving specific clues to where Calvin's home may be located, allowing readers from many regions to feel that the action takes place somewhere nearby. In one strip, Calvin's teacher asks him to name the state in which he lives, and Calvin replies "Denial". Nearly every strip features Calvin, and Hobbes also appears in most of the strips. The broad themes of the strip deal with Calvin's flights of fantasy, his friendship with Hobbes, his misadventures, and his relationships and interactions with his parents, classmates, educators, and other members of society. The series does not mention specific political figures or issues. Due to Watterson's strong anti-merchandising sentiments and his reluctance to return to the spotlight, almost no legitimate Calvin and Hobbes material exists outside of the published collections of newspaper strips.

www.calvinandhobbes.com