Beginnings

So beginnings I guess is the theme of today. This is the first strip of Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson on November 18th, 1985. Today was also the first day of a new semester of graduate school for me, as I continue my candidacy as a Masters student in Civil Engineering. This is also the first semester that I'm exclusively a graduate student, as I finished my last undergraduate courses in December and officially graduated with a Bachelors of Environmental Engineering.

I've read this strip many, many times, and honestly its usually one I cruise past, not giving it a second glance. It's certainly not very visually evocative like some of Watterson's later Sunday panels, and it's really just an introduction to characters that I already know intimately. Looking at this now, though, I'm struck by how effective of an introduction it is to three of the main characters in the series. Calvin's Dad is willing to entertain Calvin's game, but is overtly cynical and ultimately focused on the important adult activity of washing his car. We also immediately understand that the world Calvin creates in his head is reflected on the page; Calvin says that tigers "will do anything for a tuna fish sandwich", and we see that actualized in the next panel. We can reflect in this way, because we have the advantage of viewing this strip in the context of the entire anthology.

I wonder what someone opening their newspapers to the comic section on the morning of November 18th, 1985 would think after seeing this strip. Without context of the following strips, there would be no reason for them not to think that the kid in the safari hat had actually caught a tiger in a trap! Immediately Watterson presents us with the dilemma that is the namesake of this blog. No way this kid caught a real, live, talking, tuna-fish-sandwich-loving tiger. Maybe the fact that the tiger is talking means that its not real? Well perhaps we'll find out in the next strip...

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Stomping Sandcastles

Image
There is a certain pleasure in building things just to knock them down. I remember participating in these kinds of activities as a child with legos, blocks, sandcastles, you name it. I think that many could view this process as negative, and reinforcing all the wrong ideals, but I would like to argue otherwise. We're taught that building things is good and tearing them down in bad. That may be the case for certain important institutions, like the Constitution, or certain structures, like your house, but even in these cases cracks will eventually start to show, and the choice will need to be made whether to try to preserve, or to start over. Is it worth it to keep re-siding the house and amending the document, or would it be more productive to drown the sandcastle, and use the wet grains to form something new, and improved? Everything is ephemeral, even us. This assertion may seem depressing, or nihilistic, but it doesn't have to be seen this way. Is the point of life t...
Read more

Stuffing the Tiger

Image
Well, we don't really get the resolution about Hobbes' "realness" that I was hoping for yesterday in this strip, I guess we'll just have to keep waiting. Once again, in this strip we see the dichotomy between Calvin's world and his Dad's world. *Quick side note, from now on I'm just going to refer to Calvin's father as Dad, because writing Calvin's Dad would get old very fast, and I don't feel like using the possessive perspective is always going to lend itself to the interpretation I aspire to do. Okay, resume*. Dad obviously has important things to be doing and doesn't want to be repeatedly bothered by Calvin's antics. However, after a few times looking over this strip, I wonder if the "Sheesh" in the third panel isn't a bit sarcastic. Maybe Dad isn't actually annoyed with Calvin, he's just basically doing a bit, pretending to be frustrated by Calvin's interruptions. Judging by Dad's attire, the ...
Read more

Flamethrowers!

Image
Intimidation is the highest form of flattery, right? I'm pretty sure that's what they say. I can relate to Calvin's immediate choice of a flamethrower for his weapon; something about being a young boy makes you fascinated with fire and enamored with the potential that it could be thrown. I also now can totally relate to Hobbes' apprehension about Calvin having a flamethrower. Obviously, the person who most wants a flamethrower should be the last person to ever actually possess a flamethrower. Other than that I don't really have a whole lot to say about this strip. It seems like a continuation of this theme of monsters under the bed that Watterson keeping threading through the strips. Many of these strips so far are set at the point when Calvin is going to bed. I wonder what the fascination is around bedtime for Watterson, or maybe it's just the first theme that he picked to create a conducive story...
Read more