Let's Go Exploring, by Michael Hingston

People who loved Calvin and Hobbes--and who didn't--who doesn't still--love Calvin and Hobbes?--were sad when Bill Watterson quit writing the beloved comic strip in 1995.  Michael Hingston was among the crowd of C&H lovers, and has written a tribute in Let's Go Exploring. Calvin and Hobbes, book 9 in ECW Press's Pop Classics series.

Hingston tells a little of Watterson's story, then discusses some of the themes and storylines that Watterson weaves through the ten years of comic strips.  As C&H readers are well aware, "Perhaps the single most common premise in the strip involves Calvin imagining one part of his real world suddenly transformed."  Calvin's transmogrifier (a cardboard box) assisted in transforming Calvin himself.

Calvin and Hobbes stretched the limits of childhood imagination, taking readers back to their childhood play time.  But there was a melancholy underlying the strip, as Calvin had little contact or interaction with his peers.  Hingston writes, "Calvin and Hobbes is, on a fundamental level, a strip about loneliness: the ways we keep it at bay, insulate ourselves from it, and , occasionally, when our options run out, give in to it.  Imagination is a coping mechanism, and an extremely effective one at that."

I was not previously aware of Watterson's reclusive ways.  He does not appear in public, rarely grants interviews, and does not interact with his many fans.  Nor did he ever embrace any kind of merchandising.  Other than books containing the strips, you won't find C&H items for sale, despite the millions he could have made off toys and other items.

I enjoyed this retrospective; I had forgotten how much I enjoyed these comics.  Watterson shocked the comic world when he stepped out of it at the height of his fame.  As Hingston notes, "The end of Calvin and Hobbes came faster than almost anyone at the time expected."  My only beef with Hingston is this: how can you write a whole book about Calvin and Hobbes and not include a single strip?  In many cases, Hingston describes a strip in great detail; why not include it right there in the book?  Did the publisher not want to mess with getting the rights to do so?  Thankfully, the internet saves the day.  Now to log on and reacquaint myself with a funny little boy and his pet tiger.


Thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!