Celebrating an exhibit of ten years of Sunday comics featuring the beloved boy and his tiger
Calvin and Hobbes: Sunday Pages 1985-1995 is sure to bring back memories. New York Times
best-seller! Everyone misses Calvin and Hobbes . It reinvented the newspaper comic strip at a
time when many had all but buried the funnies as a vehicle for fresh creative work. Then Bill
Watterson came along and reminded a new generation of what older readers and comic strip
aficionados knew: A well-written and beautifully drawn strip is an intricate powerful form of
communication. And with Calvin and Hobbes we had fun--just like readers of Krazy Kat and Pogo
did. Opening the newspaper each day was an adventure. The heights of Watterson's creative
imagination took us places we had never been. We miss that. This book was published in
conjunction with the first exhibition of original Calvin and Hobbes Sunday pages at The Ohio
State University Cartoon Research Library. Although the work was created for reproduction not
for gallery display was a pleasure to see the cartoonist's carefully placed lines and
exquisite brush strokes. In an attempt to share this experience with those who were unable to
visit the exhibition all of the original Sunday pages displayed are reproduced in color in
this book so that every detail such as sketch lines corrections and registration marks are
visible. On the opposite page the same comic strip is printed in full color. Because Watterson
was unusually intentional and creative in his use of color this juxtaposition provides Calvin
and Hobbes readers the opportunity to consider the impact of color on its narrative and
content. When I first contacted Bill Watterson about the possibility of exhibiting his original
work I used the term "retrospective." He replied that we might be able to do an exhibit but
that calling it a retrospective made him uncomfortable. He felt that a longer time was needed
to put Calvin and Hobbes in the historical perspective implied by that term. Nonetheless this
show is a "look back" at the comic strip as we revisit favorites that we remember. Calvin and
Hobbes: Sunday Pages 1985-1995 is particularly interesting because each work that is included
was selected by Bill Watterson. His comments about the thirty-six Sunday pages he chose are
part of this volume. In addition he reflects on Calvin and Hobbes from the perspective of six
years and his essay provides insights into his life as a syndicated cartoonist. Reprint books
of Calvin and Hobbes are nice to have but the opportunity to see the original work and read
Bill Watterson's thoughts about it is a privilege. He generously shared not only the art but
also his time and his thoughts. When I first reviewed the works included in the exhibit I knew
that everyone who visited it would begin with laughter and end with tears. On behalf of all who
enjoyed Calvin and Hobbes thank you Bill Watterson. --Lucy Shelton Caswell Professor and
Curator The Ohio State University Cartoon Research Library June 2001
