FREE THE AUTHORITATIVE CALVIN AND HOBBES PDF Bill Watterson | 253 pages | 29 Mar 2001 | Andrews McMeel Publishing | 9780836218220 | English | Kansas City, United States List of Calvin and Hobbes books - Wikipedia Calvin and Hobbes is a daily American comic strip created by cartoonist Bill Watterson that was syndicated from November 18, to December 31, Commonly cited as "the last great newspaper comic", [2] [3] [4] Calvin and Hobbes has enjoyed broad and enduring popularity, influence, and academic and philosophical interest. Calvin and Hobbes follows the humorous antics of the title characters : Calvin, a precocious, mischievous and adventurous six-year-old boy; and Hobbeshis sardonic stuffed tiger. Set The Authoritative Calvin and Hobbes the contemporary suburban United Statesthe strip depicts Calvin's frequent flights of fancy and friendship with Hobbes. Hobbes' dual nature is a defining motif for the strip: to Calvin, Hobbes is a living anthropomorphic tiger, while all the other characters see Hobbes as an inanimate stuffed toy. Though the series does not frequently mention specific political figures or contemporary events, it does explore broad issues like environmentalismpublic educationphilosophical quandaries and the flaws of opinion polls. At the height of its popularity, Calvin and Hobbes was featured in over 2, newspapers worldwide. Calvin and Hobbes was conceived when Bill Watterson, while working in an advertising job he detested, [6] began devoting his spare time to developing a newspaper comic for potential syndication. He explored various strip ideas but all were rejected by the syndicates. United Feature Syndicate finally responded positively to one strip called The Doghousewhich featured a side character the main character's little brother who had a stuffed tiger. United identified these characters as the strongest, and encouraged Watterson to develop them as the centre of their own strip. The first strip was published on November 18, [10] in 35 newspapers. Watterson was warned by the syndicate not to give up his day job yet, but it was not long before the series had become a hit. Within a year of syndicationthe strip was published in roughly newspapers and was proving to have international appeal with translation and wide circulation outside the United States. Although The Authoritative Calvin and Hobbes and Hobbes would undergo continual artistic development and creative innovation over the period of syndication, the earliest strips demonstrate a remarkable consistency with the latest. Watterson introduced all the major characters within the first three weeks, and made no changes to the central cast over the strip's year history. He was nominated another time in As his creation grew in popularity, Watterson underwent a long and emotionally draining battle with his syndicate editors over his refusal to license his characters for merchandising. ByWatterson had achieved his goal of securing a new contract that granted The Authoritative Calvin and Hobbes legal control over his creation and all future licensing arrangements. Having achieved his objective of creative control, Watterson's desire for privacy subsequently reasserted itself and he ceased all media interviews, relocated to New Mexicoand largely disappeared from public engagements, refusing to attend the ceremonies of any of the cartooning awards he won. During Watterson's first sabbatical from the strip, Universal Press Syndicate continued to charge newspapers full price to re-run old Calvin and Hobbes strips. Few editors approved of the move, but the strip was so popular that they had no choice but to continue to run it for fear that competing newspapers might pick it up and draw its fans away. This made him only the second cartoonist since Garry Trudeau to have sufficient popularity to demand more space and control over the presentation of his work. Watterson took a second sabbatical from April 3 through December 31, When he returned, he had made the decision to end the strip. InWatterson sent a letter via The Authoritative Calvin and Hobbes syndicate to all editors whose newspapers carried his strip announcing his plans to end the strip by the end of the year. Stating his belief that he had achieved everything that he wanted to within the medium, he announced his intention to work on future projects at a slower pace with fewer artistic compromises. The final strip ran on Sunday, December 31, Let's go exploring! Syndicated comics The Authoritative Calvin and Hobbes typically published six times a week in black and white, with a Sunday supplement version in a larger, full color format. This larger format version of the strip was constrained by mandatory layout requirements that made it possible for newspaper editors to format the strip for different page sizes and layouts. Watterson grew increasingly frustrated by the shrinking of the available space for comics in the newspapers and the mandatory panel divisions that restricted his ability to produce better artwork and more creative storytelling. He lamented that without space for anything more than simple dialogue or sparse artwork, comics as an art form were becoming dilute, bland, and unoriginal. Watterson longed for the artistic freedom allotted to classic strips such as Little Nemo and Krazy Katand in he gave a sample of what could be accomplished with such liberty in the opening pages of the Sunday strip compilation, The Calvin and Hobbes Lazy Sunday Book— an 8- page previously unpublished Calvin story fully illustrated in watercolor. The same book contained an afterword from the artist himself, reflecting on a time when comic strips were allocated a whole page of the newspaper and every comic was like a "color poster". Within two years, Watterson was ultimately successful in negotiating a deal that provided him more space and creative freedom. Following his sabbatical, Universal Press announced that Watterson had decided to sell his Sunday strip as an unbreakable half of a newspaper or tabloid page. Many editors and even a few cartoonists including Bil Keane The Family Circus and Bruce Beattie Snafu criticized him for what they perceived as arrogance and an unwillingness to abide by the normal practices of the cartoon business. If they don't think the strip carries its own weight, they don't have to run it. Bill Watterson took two sabbaticals from the daily requirements of producing the strip. The first took place from The Authoritative Calvin and Hobbes 5, to February 1,and second from April 3 through December 31, These sabbaticals were included in the new contract Watterson managed to negotiate with Universal Features in The sabbaticals were proposed by the syndicate themselves, who, fearing Watterson's complete burnout, endeavored to get another five years of work from their star artist. Watterson remains only the third cartoonist with sufficient popularity and stature to receive a sabbatical from their syndicate, the first being Garry Trudeau Doonesbury in and Gary Larson The Far Side in Watterson's lengthy sabbaticals received some mild criticism from his fellow cartoonists including Greg Evans Luannand Charles The Authoritative Calvin and Hobbes Peanutsone of Watterson's major artistic influences, even called it a "puzzle". Some cartoonists resented the idea that Watterson worked harder than others, while others supported it. At least one newspaper editor noted that the strip The Authoritative Calvin and Hobbes the most popular in the country, and stated he "earned it". Despite the popularity of Calvin and Hobbesthe strip remains notable for the almost complete lack of official product merchandising. Bill Watterson held that comic strips should stand on their own as an art form and although he did not start out completely opposed The Authoritative Calvin and Hobbes merchandising in all forms or even for all comic stripshe did reject an The Authoritative Calvin and Hobbes syndication deal that involved incorporating a more marketable, licensed character into his strip. When Calvin and Hobbes was accepted by Universal Syndicate, and began to grow in popularity, Watterson found himself at odds with the syndicate which urged him to begin merchandising the characters and touring the country to promote the first collections of comic strips. Watterson refused. To him, the integrity of the strip and its artist would be undermined by commercializationwhich he saw as a major negative influence in the world of cartoon art [15] and he came to believe that licensing his character would only violate the The Authoritative Calvin and Hobbes of his work. However, having initially signed away control over merchandising in his initial contract with the syndicate, [4] Watterson would commence a lengthy and emotionally draining battle with Universal to gain control over his work. Ultimately Universal did not approve any products against Watterson's wishes, understanding that unlike other comic strips, it would be near impossible to separate The Authoritative Calvin and Hobbes creator from the strip if Watterson chose to walk away. The strip's immense popularity has led to the appearance of various counterfeit items such The Authoritative Calvin and Hobbes window decals and T-shirts that often feature crude humorbinge drinking and other themes that are not found in Watterson's work. Watterson has expressed admiration for animation as an artform. In a interview in The Comics Journal he The Authoritative Calvin and Hobbes the appeal of being able to do things with a moving image that can't be done by a