Calvin and Hobbs ???

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Calvin and Hobbs

I'm not sure where this came from originally. It's in the format of the series of motivational posters.

If one looks at it, one can see, perhaps, a TG element to the resulting screen.

Comments

I don't think it's meant as TG...

I think that's meant to be Calvin in the background, waving goodbye to Hobbs, who is off with Calvin's daughter.

It's nicely done. I especially like the expression on Hobbs' face.

Yes,

I know that's supposed to be Calvin in the background. But the kid in the foreground had Calvin's look/expression as well.

I love Calvin and Hobbes

bobbie-c's picture

I was a fan of Calvin and Hobbes when I was a kid, and I remember the melancholy feelings I had when I read the last strip. It was a very spare strip where Calvin and Hobbes were looking over the fresh snow blanketing what I guess was their playground, and they were marveling at its pristine quality. I can't remember the specifics of the strip, but they were saying things like it was like a big sheet of clean paper, like it was the fresh start on the new year, and everything was full of possibilities.

I remember the last panel: Calvin and Hobbes were setting up Calvin's snow sled. Calvin says "It's a magical world." As they slid down a little hill, Calvin says "Let's go exploring!" And, after that, the comic ended.

When I was starting my RLT and, eventually, continuing on to my transition, I occasionally thought of that strip, and how I was like Calvin at that moment, starting fresh, not really knowing what was in front of me. I truly wanted my future to be like that fresh sheet of paper that Calvin (or was it Hobbes) said it was, and how full of possibilities everything was.

The future can look wonderful, but scary, too, especially for people like us. I guess we have to be like Calvin and be willing to pick up the sled and venture down that snowy hill, regardless of what we think the future will be.

Anyway...

Ann, I think the panel you were showing was a scene where the grown-up Calvin gave his stuffed tiger (Hobbes, of course) to his daughter, and his daughter was running off with Hobbes in what was a C&H-esque waking daydream, where Hobbes magically becomes a real live (though imaginary) tiger, ready to play with her. I guess, knowing the context of the panel, I couldn't really see the TG-ness of it... I think it's a very clever cartoon, very poignant, actually, about the adult bequeathing his childhood, in the form of Hobbes, a childhood full of adventure and imagination, to his daughter. Although the adult Calvin was in the background and his face was indistinct, I can imagine him having a sort of melancholy smile as he thought of his long-past imaginary adventures with Hobbes, and how his daughter will be having the same adventures.

Thank you for bringing back these things for me. Now that I can afford it, I think I'll go and buy that hardbound Calvin and Hobbes compilation I've had my eye on in the bookstore for the longest time.

   
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To see Bobbie's stories in BCTS, click this link: http://bigclosetr.us/topshelf/book/14775/roberta-j-cabot
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Yes, I too recall...

the strip with bittersweet memories. I loved reading it, as it came out each and every Sunday. Then, in some of the compilations.

Yes, I do understand what the picture represents. But, when I saw it this evening, I'd just read an article about trans children. Seeing this, just after that article made me see the young girl as Calvin rather than his daughter. It was only when I looked later that I recognized the picture for what it was.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and memories.

Ann

A Day Without Calvin and Hobbes...

... is like a day without sunshine. It can be a good day, but it's never *quite* as memorable.

I told that to one of the public librarians when I was 14 (1989). I still have my daily Calvin & Hobbes. I have every single comic Mr. Watterson made, from 18 November 1985 to 31 December 1995. I've arranged them into 36 different *.CBR files -- All Comics, All Dailies, All Sundays, and for each of the 11 separate years I have the All, All Daily, and All Sunday files, too. *.CBR is a "Comic Book aRchive" file, and I have a program called "Comical" that reads them.

I read through them, over and over. And they never get old. I read at least a week's worth, every day.

Now let's see....

Andrea Lena's picture

....I hit the ball to you, and you throw it up in the air while yelling, "Caw Caw Caw." As you wait for the ball to come down, I tackle you from behind, causing you to fall in the G.R.O.S.S zone, where everything is opposite, making you Hobbina and me Calvina. Since the transformation isn't permanent, we get on a bus going to Montreal. As the bus leaves the station, we throw the ball out the window. It caroms off a taxi cab and bounces back into the bus into your lap, where you promptly become a tiger again but since I didn't catch the ball, I have to stay a girl for the rest of the day or until the Sunday edition comes out. Susie is waiting when the bus gets into the station. She kisses me and welcomes me to the SURGERY club (Simply Understand...Really...Girls Excel Royally, Yes?) and I realize that G.R.O.S.S. really doesn't mean Get Rid Of Slimy girlS, but that it's really gross to live like a boy for a whole lifetime when I should have been wearing a dress all along. Yes, you guessed it. Another great game of Calvin Ball, Northern New Jersey Modified Rules apply! God, I miss that strip.

She was born for all the wrong reasons but grew up for all the right ones.
Con grande amore e di affetto, Andrea Lena

  

To be alive is to be vulnerable. Madeleine L'Engle
Love, Andrea Lena