day, Novei
'Thu rsday, November 2, 2000
AGGIES
Page 3 A
n Bri
THE BATTALION
boy and
tCalvin and Hobbes’ creator Bill Watterson endemhe strip almost*
\trip remains popular among grown-up ^-year-olds’
who maw Annk Hoar
3Sed dtt’fmje Battalion
. since'
ie anif
■ On New Year’s Day 1997, a 6-year-old boy named Calvin
^^^Bd his stuffed tiger, Hobbes, were missing from their home.
w JHeir family included any Generation Xer or Yer who ever
jweamed of rebelling against the baby sitter, exploring out-
evious jei space or dancing with the dinosaurs. Their home was the
>P Laic cromics section of newspapers around the world:
spraye:B Bill Watterson’s “Calvin and Hobbes” comic strip ap-
/ were.m arec j j n m0 re than 2,400 newspapers during its run be
nd store;
iacobs!
tieen 1985 and 1996. When Watterson retired, he left mil-
g weeks tt° ns devoted readers wondering how they will live
notaweftthout the poetic insights of Watter-
been spBm’s 6-year-old philosopher.
jrchasecB Lee Salem, an editor for Universal
'ak Pet'B|- ess Syndicate, which distributes
“Calvin and Hobbes," was Watterson’s
^HHitor for 10 years.
^ sho tB “At the beginning of the strip, we
i contacBould go over material together to get a
i ftnse of the characters and how they
case of Would react in different situations,”
es * n 'Salem said. "We worked together, and I
“"^Biade suggestions, but the strip was 99.9
IsBercent his. Watterson totally created the
■ Btrip and the characters.”
I Salem said his favorite part about
working with Watterson was the imag-
r romP4 ihative characters that he created for
p. ..Bhe strip.
JimM ^ atterson sa '^ 011 his Website that
s , MTalvin’s character was fun to write be-
7 c fj 121t! B ause 11 was ^e opposite or his own
"hildhood. He said that, despite the fact
hat the humor is based on childhood ad-
entures, it still appeals to adults.*
“I suspect that inside every adult is
i bratty kid who wants everything his own way,” Watter
son said.
Salem said that Watterson stopped doing “Calvin and
obbes” due to the constant stress of doing a daily comic.
“The constant strain of deadlines really affected him,” he
said. “He thought that if he went much longer, the content of
the strip would be diminished. Bill wanted to leave while
'Calvin and Hobbes’ was at the top.”
Salem said that Watterson and the syndicate has some dis-
l&flt
'ays in ft'
hilehe"
lavis - fin agreements toward the end of the series,
igandat
ing.
We disagreed about how to develop ‘Calvin and Hobbes,’
as far as licensing goes,” he said. “We have the rights to the
A&Mdi characters, but in the end, we respected his wishes.”
st inOln Salem said the relationship was amicable. Now that Wat-
event erson has retired, Salem said, he is probably doing as lit-
FB1,» lie as possible.
“1 bet he’s probably painting and enjoying not meeting
; appear jeadlines,” Salem said.
re, sucl Alicia Michalak, assistant manager of Barnes and Noble
d and )n Te Xa s Avenue, said the “Calvin and Hobbes” books are
still the best-selling comic-book series at
the store.
“The sales are steadily good through
out the year and increase during Christ
mas,” she said. “The best sellers are the
treasuries, especially me Indispensible
Calvin and Hobbes and ThPmuthoritative \
Calvin and Hobbes, which combine severa4\'
books.” \
The book that sells the greatest arnotimt is Homi
cidal Psycho Jungle Cat. \ C
“ ‘Garfield’ is probably hr$|cbnd place,” Miohalak
^a^'^utjldthing compares to
M^rtCTOfebbes.’ ** W'-\
_ the p$pip%readi
the books are mainly teen-agers and
young
Ddvid priest % St. ^
Mary's Church, S^^th^Chb is a long-^
time “Calvin and HobbeS” fan.
“1 began seeing 'Calvin and
Hobbes’ in the paper and loved it .im
mediately,” Konderla said. "The hupior '
is very adult, especially the punch Urtps.
I think that adults cahiealfy appreciate
the subtlety of it.” ^
Konderla said the strip remin^
him of his childhood, k
“I was the second of 12 kids, so
we grew up in a really rpugh-and-
tumble enviromnent. A lot of the
things in the strip really resonate
with me.” ^ \
Konderla’s f®prite themes in
the “Calvin and J^Q&bes” strip in-
elude the dinosauftjapisodes and
the baby-sitter episodes.
“The philosopmc\disdussiops
about life really interest me, too,” he said. m.
Despite the influence of electronic entertainment for
children, Konderla said, he hopes that today’s children can
still find jo> in comics.
“The medium impacts us in a better w^ay than an ani
mated show because you put your own humor in it,” he said.
“I hope today’s children don’t miss the fun of comics.”
David Ming, a junior finance major, said that he began
reading the books when he was 10 years old.
“I was at summer camp, and all of my friends had the
books, and I started reading them,” Ming said.
After he returned from camp, he bought some,of the
books. b .
.“My favorite one was Something Under the-Byd is
Drooling," he said. “I liked all the strips that had Calvin
confronting things, from baby sitters to monsters.” V\
Ming said he still reads the strip when it is in the paper. •
“Even though there are no new strips, ‘Calvin and Hobbes’
still continues because they rerun old strips,” Ming said. “I
think that ‘Calvin and Hobbes’ will be around forever.”
“The constant
strain of deadlines
really affected him.
He though that if he
went on much
longer, the content
of the strip would be
diminished. Bill
wanted to leave
while 'Calvin and
Hobbes' was at the
top:'
— Lee Salem
Watterson's former editor
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