Cartoon

Jonah Melinn

Ms. Tombre

Comp, 2^nd hour

3/13/12

  Cartoon Paper

It seems that the theme to this comic strip is to show how the imagination of a child can alter the view of their entire life. It makes life more fun and everyday is an adventure to them. It might not be the most humorous of all comics, but it shows what a child imagines when they want to. It shows Calvin, and his friends are few. This allows his Imagination to take over and he lives in a world that he created; he can create it, destroy it, or change it in any way. It all has to do with him; he is the center of his own stage. Which allows him to accomplish anything he can dream of. I enjoy this strip because it explains how the imagination of a young child can and usually is completely disregarded by parents. Calvin shows his ability to create his entire world that he belongs in, though he feels unattached from the outside world.  His ability to be able to live in his “world” shows his youth living in naivety, unaware of the concept of aging and the responsibilities that come with it.

Bill Watterson, who is the cartoonist who created the very well known “Calvin and Hobbes” series, was born on July 5, 1958 in Washington, D.C. At the age of 6 years old he and his parents moved to Chagrin Falls, Ohio. He did fairly well in school, had no imaginary friends, and stayed out of trouble, which makes one wonder where the inspiration for the opposite Calvin.  He took a sudden interest in writing, and read old comics such as “Peanuts” and “Pogo”. He enlisted in Kenyon collage in Ohio in 1976. He spent four years drawing political cartoon for the campus newspaper. He graduated in 1980 and immediately got a job offering as a editorial cartoonist at the Cincinnati Post. He did not have the effect the editors wanted it and fired him a year later. He quit cartoons and decided to go back to comic strips.

For the next few years he sent many comics to many newspapers and received nothing but rejections. He finally created the strip Calvin and Hobbes, a 6 year old independent first grader, and Hobbes, his stuffed tiger who came to life only when Calvin was present.  The strips popularity exploded at its release when Universal Press Syndicate bought it in 1985. In 1986 Bill Watterson became the youngest cartoonist to ever receive National Cartoonists Society's Reuben Award. He continued to write Calvin and Hobbes strips, until he announced its ending in 1995, the last strip was released on December 31^st.