Calvin & Scott.

recently at a party, a guy that happened to work at the U.N. out-nerded me by sharing the following good stuff:

(click to enlarge)

despite the weird nerd overtures, this really took me back. as a young lad, i was always a fan of Calvin & Hobbes. while it wasn't my first exposure to the medium of comics, it was the bar by which all else would be measured. in fact, once Bill Waterson bowed out, i quit reading the (newspaper) comics altogether. everything else in those few daily pages i found far too trite and sophomoric. i soonafter actually quit reading all comic books for ~2 years. to this day, Calvin & Hobbes is (one of) the gold standards by which i hold the medium. fun, imaginative, and thought-provoking. 

of course, within a couple of years, i came back to comics, but not for the same reasons of fantastic action-and-art oriented spectacle. instead of following heroes and artists, i was drawn back in for characters and writers, something i still do to this day (neat art is appreciated, and super-heroics, while a nice perk, are not necessary). i don't think this would have been the case were it not for the initial seeds planted by Calvin & Hobbes.

tangentially, probably one of the great appeals of Scott Pilgrim (IMHO one of the few true successors), was that (for me) it was in much the same vein of Calvin & Hobbes. this most likely given SP's inane, imaginative, but serious emotional bent (oh Ramona, you're so much more than Susie ever could have been). or perhaps even more literally, i imagine Scott as a portrayal of who Calvin might have grown up to be (though i'm sure that's not what SP creator Brian Lee O'Malley had intended). 

naturally, over the years, quite a few artistic homages have been made (not counting Calvin praying and/or pissing on the rear window decal of a pick-up truck), but only a few really capture the true spirit of imagination and fun - like those above and to the left. i think this might have been the only t-shirt i bought in 2010 (a throwback to the already classic sled-based original somewhere in a long-lost t-shirt pile). it was never really a choice, as soon as it was published, it was as good as bought. i'm such a sucker.

but i digress. i really miss you Calvin (& Hobbes). i'm really grateful for everything you gave me. maybe someday soon i'll pick up and re-read through all those volumes i spent all my allowance money on, and have carried with me to every bedroom bookshelf of mine.