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40 Years Ago Today, Calvin and Hobbes Made Their Debut

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40 years ago — on November 18, 1985 — a new comic strip appeared in the newspaper: Calvin and Hobbes.

Hobbes was a stuffed tiger, but in the mind of 6-year-old Calvin he was a wryly observant companion for his day-to-day challenges and wildly imaginative adventures.

Screenshot 2025-11-18 at 4.46.38 PM.png

Adventures of the beloved duo lasted just a decade. Their creator — cartoonist Bill Watterson — walked away from Calvin and Hobbes at the height of its popularity.

Watterson — who has given few interviews — seamlessly combined the silly, the fantastic and the profound in his strip. That slightly demented quality captured editor Lee Salem, who spoke with NPR's Renee Montagne in 2005.

Read the interview here.

  • Chris changed the title to 40 Years Ago Today, Calvin and Hobbes Made Their Debut

Arguably one of the greatest comics of all time, second only to Peanuts. ( The Far Side is #3 in my opinion, for the record. )

Bill Watterson often struck me as an unhappy man in interviews but looking back I see why. He was dead set against his creation being used for advertising or merchandise. It's why you never saw licensed C&H merch. He fought against that tooth and nail.

I also read that after her retired, he'd occasionally go into random book stores, autograph his books and then put them back on the shelf for some lucky customer to find. When word got out and they started showing up on EBay, he stopped doing that.

1 hour ago, Chris said:

Arguably one of the greatest comics of all time, second only to Peanuts. ( The Far Side is #3 in my opinion, for the record. )

Bill Watterson often struck me as an unhappy man in interviews but looking back I see why. He was dead set against his creation being used for advertising or merchandise. It's why you never saw licensed C&H merch. He fought against that tooth and nail.

I also read that after her retired, he'd occasionally go into random book stores, autograph his books and then put them back on the shelf for some lucky customer to find. When word got out and they started showing up on EBay, he stopped doing that.

Most definitely one of the top comic strips of all time

  • 3 weeks later...

In a way I think he is right. To much of a good thing and all.

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