a brief history of calvin and hobbes?...

my friend aaron turned me onto google reader a month or so ago, and after some initial confusion (and subscribing--and then unsubscribing--to way too many blogs), i started to get the hang of it. next, he shared kottke.org with me (check it out), and that's how i found myself reading about grown-up calvin and hobbes.

here are a few of the posted drawings:



(the girl, of course, being susie)



(the fianz wants this for our apartment)



this one, the fianz found particularly sad. i thought the next one was worse--it's supposedly the final calvin and hobbes strip--although, of course, it isn't authentic:




and, in response to that, someone else posted here:




the real final strip is as follows:


(sorry it's so tiny, i think if you click on it it'll appear bigger)

This, from Wikipedia (article here):

Watterson took two extended breaks from writing new strips: from May 1991 to February 1992, and from April through December 1994. In 1995, Watterson sent a letter via his syndicate to all editors whose newspapers carried his strip. It contained the following:

I will be stopping Calvin and Hobbes at the end of the year. This was not a recent or an easy decision, and I leave with some sadness. My interests have shifted however, and I believe I've done what I can do within the constraints of daily deadlines and small panels. I am eager to work at a more thoughtful pace, with fewer artistic compromises. I have not yet decided on future projects, but my relationship with Universal Press Syndicate will continue. That so many newspapers would carry Calvin and Hobbes is an honor I'll long be proud of, and I've greatly appreciated your support and indulgence over the last decade. Drawing this comic strip has been a privilege and a pleasure, and I thank you for giving me the opportunity.

The 3,160th and final strip ran on Sunday, December 31, 1995. It depicted Calvin and Hobbes outside in freshly-fallen snow, reveling in the wonder and excitement of the winter scene. "It's a magical world, Hobbes, ol' buddy… Let's go exploring!" Calvin exclaims as they zoom off on their sled leaving, according to one critic ten years later, "a hole in the comics page that no strip has been able to fill.

...when i was a sophomore in college, my friend kristen and i went to a party at her boyfriend's house for halloween, and while there, i told michael (the bf) about my roommate and how i really didn't like her and when i was done telling my story, he said "so, i was going to reply to that by telling a really long and pointless story and then i was going to get up and run into the other room and get a present for you, but i'm really ADD, so--" he got up, ran into the other room, and came back with the tenth anniversary calvin and hobbes book. "read it whenever you're sad," he said. "calvin and hobbes make everything better."

and they did.

:::edit::: i found an archive of every printed comic from 1985-1995 (or, so it claims), here.