Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book ~ Bill Watterson

Comic strips have three lives, sometimes. First, they will be published in newspapers or magazines or on websites nowadays. After that, they are collected in books. And, if a comic strip becomes a classic, an exclusive deluxe complete edition bound in leather will follow.

A little while ago, the deluxe complete Calvin and Hobbes was announced.

Order now and they will ship in October. It says something about how much I love the strip that I considered this offer for a while. Even though I already have all the books in English, and most of them in Dutch as well. In their mediocre translations.

Marketing experts are very good at speculating on this feeling; that a real aficionado will always be afraid to miss something if he declines such an offer.

However, I have concluded that The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book probably is my favourite collection of the bunch, and probably will not be included in that deluxe box. The anthology in this book is enriched by Bill Watterson’s musings on the background and history of the comic strip, and what he tried to achieve with some of the story lines.

It’s good.