Rating: 
Summary: Your collection isn't complete without this book
Review: As a fan of Calvin and Hobbes, I put off getting this book because I thought it was merely a best of collection I didn't need since I had all the others. Boy was I wrong! This book is a wonderful insight into the mind behind my favorite strip of all time.Bill Watterson spends the first part of the book talking about everything from character names and personalities to his fights to keep his characters from being over commercialized. While I wish there were more products available, I do respect him for sticking to his principles on this. He also talks about the format of the Sunday strips. The rest of the book is a collection of strips, starting with the very first. What is interesting here is Mr. Watterson's commentary. Whether it's the idea behind or an amusing story that happened because of a strip, it's all very entertaining. It also brings out some of the themes talked about it the strip. He also discusses the ideas behind such staples as the wagon, Calvin's box, and Spaceman Spiff. I truly miss this wonderful strip because of its creativity and insights into our American culture. This book shows the behinds the scene story in an entertaining and informative way.
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Summary: A Brilliant Comic and Artist
Review: Bill Watterson is not your typical cartoonist. He did not set out to create an empire from his comic. He merely set out to create an art in a dying format. He is a true comic fan whose love for it is expressed in this book. Calvin and Hobbes is not your typical comic. You don't always see the "one-liner" jokes nor the same gag done ad nauseam. There are unique and creative story lines. The characters don't have paper-thin and ever-changing personalities. In the book, Bill Watterson writes an excellent narrative about the history of Calvin and Hobbes. The best part I believe is when he starts talking about his struggle with his syndicate over merchandising Calvin and Hobbes. I grew a lot of respect for Bill Watterson and his art after reading it. You realize how serious he is about it. You also discover why he took those long sabbaticals. You also find out a lot about the comic itself. There are many strips in the book that Bill Watterson makes personal comments about that enlightens the reader. You learn about how each character from Calvin to his Parents to his teacher to his babysitter was created and developed. Ever since Bill Watterson ended Calvin and Hobbes there has been a hole in the comics that may never be filled. Though this book you relive the laughs, wagon rides, snow men, maulings, and poems through the eyes of their creator. This is quite a interesting and profound read for any Calvin and Hobbes fan and even and fan of comics in general.
Rating:
Summary: Watterson is king
Review: There are a lot of comics that have faded away over the years and tracking them down after they're out of print is sometimes next to impossible. I don't think Calvin and Hobbes is going anywhere for a while even though Watterson has ended the strip but if it does you'll probably kick yourself for not having a complete Calvin and Hobbes collection and this book is the crowning piece in that collection. Bill Watterson, a guy who keeps his opinions to himself (finding an interview with him is like a treasure hunt) gives you an inside look at the strip, Priceless.
Rating:
Summary: 10 Years of Magic
Review: This book is great like all the other Calvin and Hobbes collections. This one, however, offers the unique feature of commentary written by Bill Watterson himself. Bill has selected some of his favorite, or important landmark, strips and some of his least favorites. He also gives an in depth study of each character (Calvin, Hobbes, Calvin's parents, Susie, Rosalyn, Miss Wormwood and Moe). He gives brief explainations of the importance of Calvin's wagon, Calvins incredible use of corrugated cardboard boxes, Spaceman Spiff and the "fantasy" strips. (Dinosaurs, Tracer Bullet, Stupendous Man ect.) Now Spaceman Spiff is a fantasy, but I think Bill thought he was especially important so Spiff is granted his own page. Bill also describes the five years where he fought tirelessly to save Calvin and Hobbes from being licensed. I honor him for his efforts, because, like he says in the book, when you have the characters appearing on coffee mugs saying things that aren't in the cartoonist's control, the character's personality can be thwarted and it ruins the actual strip. He has a section explaining the three strips that influenced him (read to find out what they are), the Sunday strips and how he feels about them, and a part on the process of creating a cartoon. At the end of the book, he has a page about comics in general. Another good thing about this book is that due to the timing of Attack of the Deranged, Mutant, Killer, Monster Snow Goons, the Sunday strips featured in that book didn't make it into a treasury collection so none of the Sundays are in reprinted in color, except for some in this book. Some strips may be even funnier after you read this, because you know where the iidea for it came from. I have to say now that if you consider yourself a fan of Calvin and Hobbes and you do not own this book, you need to seriously re-examine the title you have given youself
Rating: 
Summary: The 10th Anniversary Book
Review: Watterson is one of the greatest cartoonists of our time. Calvin and Hobbes sometimes share their deep insights on the values of life. Sometimes their personal outlooks on life are reflected off Watterson's views, which is a great skill to have. Along with the comics, the book is filled with accounts the author wrote, explaining his feelings about the comics and what they mean to him. The book is funny and adventurous, and when you're through reading it, you might have learned a lesson.
Rating:
Summary: Arguably the best comic strip - EVER
Review: This book is a wonderful insight into how Bill Watterson's mind works. I for one feel grateful for the trend of comic artists doing a book to tell us readers about the nuts and bolts of their strips. Watterson shows us his influences, gives us the inside scoop on his troubles with the syndicate and his take on artistic integrity. We learn about the idiosyncracies of Watterson's mind and how they shaped the growth and development of "Calvin and Hobbes". I learned a great deal about the history of comics as a whole, as well as many of the reasons for their decline and loss of space in recent years. Plus, the book contains many of the best strips and story sequences from the annals of Calvin and Hobbes. I hoped Watterson would maybe do a Calvin and Hobbes comic book on his own terms after retiring from the daily grind; he could remake comic books in an image more to his liking. Sadly, I think the effort wore him out. C&H is sorely missed, there are only a handful of strips out there worth anything, and of those none (in my opinion) come CLOSE to equalling Calvin and Hobbes, even in it's early stages. I think the Tenth Anniversary Book reveals that Watterson is a very intelligent and competent artist, whose absence from the newspaper leave all of us a little emptier. Now with the loss of Charles Schulz, I fear the comics will slide further into banality and the same jokes done the same way by the same cartoonists, many of whom blatantly (wittingly or not) rip off Watterson, Breathen, Kelly and other giants of the medium. Here's to originality. Here's to Calvin and Hobbes.
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Summary: Watterson in Action
Review: i am extremely pleased with this selection of calvin and hobbes because it incorporates narrative from the author himself as he guides the reader from strip to strip.
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Summary: Watterson Philosophizes
Review: When I bought this "Calvin and Hobbes" book I had a hard time getting into it at first. The first eighteen or nineteen pages contain more prose and philosophy than it does art, and I've always bought "Calvin and Hobbes" books for the humor. I really felt as though the philosophy and description that Bill Watterson was describing was a distraction, at first. But the more I read the more I started to get into "Calvin and Hobbes" from Watterson's perspective. Looking at the evolution of "Calvin and Hobbes" as described by Watterson, and his travails with syndicators, I have a new perspective on what it takes to create a strip like "Calvin and Hobbes." The art and the strips are outstanding, as with the other "Calvin and Hobbes" collections, but this time we also get to see Watterson's perspectives on various characters. Some of Watterson's observations about various characters are as funny as the strips themselves. Watterson makes a rather succinct comment regarding Moe the bully. I'll leave you to read the comment, but it's hilarious. Watterson offers comments on all the major characters along with key details about each. Moe, of course, being a simple moron bully, requires minimal description, but the other key characters have a history associated with them. Watterson provided a bit of a compliment to his wife in his description of Susie Derkins. I also agree with Watterson that I suspect that Calvin does have a mild crush on Susie. Watterson offers nearly a half a page of comments on both Calvin and Hobbes that are interesting reading. I also enjoyed the selection of various strips over ten years of the strip, showing the evolution of the strip and the characters. It's interesting to see how the quality of the strip has improved in ten years as Watterson continually perfected the characters. Being a cartoonist is clearly much more difficult than I ever thought it was. I will miss "Calvin and Hobbes" since Watterson has retired the strip. However, all the collections are still available, and I think they will continue to be fresh in the decades to come. The insight Watterson has provided in this book is valuable for hard core fans interested in Watterson's viewpoint on his creations. If you are uninterested in Watterson's perspective, you can always skip over it and read the strips! I highly recommend this book for all "Calvin and Hobbes" fans.
Rating:
Summary: Addictive
Review: Man do I love Calvin's wild imagination and Hobbes' logical responses to Calvin's crazy antics. What makes this book special is that each strip/story has a commentary by Bill Watterson on what inspires him and how he feels about his own creation. This book has a huge introduction by Watterson on why he chose never to turn Calvin and Hobbes into a huge franchise and why he finally decided to quit while he was ahead. A noble career move methinks. There are some great stories in this one such as Calvin's hijinks with the transmogrifier/duplicator and the some of the Sunday color strips create some highly evocative atmospheres.
Plus, this book contains the most interesting fact EVER. What is the even scarier than a T-Rex? A T-Rex in an F-22 fighter jet.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant...Just Brilliant!!!
Review: The Tenth Anniversary slab of this irrepressible duo gives us an overview, by Bill Watterson, of the strip's history. The very best of all his Newspaper strips are explained in fine detail. Of course the cartoons speak for themselves but it is amazing how far the quality of Calvin And Hobbes has developed. The early drawings look rather crude, but then so did the "Simpsons" when they first started. Highlights include Calvin v Rosslyn (Stupendous man), Susie finding Hobbes, Calvin and Susie and a rare sighting of Calvin's Uncle as a storyline character. The Duo verses Mom and Dad strips are always great. Of course Calvin And Hobbes' interaction with each other in Calvin's make believe world also shows up a rather sadder side of this little child's life, - he is a highly intelligent individual, self opininated, difficult to befriend, a total loner and an outcast.
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