Rating: 
Summary: It's a good book
Review: The essential C&H starts out with the early comics (I think) so those are a little weird.The poem at the begining is very funny. In one of the first stories Calvin and Susie get in trouble for passing notes ("I WISH WE WERE DEAD!!") And in another one Hobbes cuts Calvin's hair which Calvin says looks like it was cut with a weed-eater. What I thought was irritating was when it went from early comics to finished comics, which was kind of annoying because I like the early comics. I conclude this reveiw by saying this is deffinatly worth your money and you'll enjoy it very much. post script, you might also like getting the indespensible C&H and The Authoritive C&H with this one, they kind of go together.
Rating:
Summary: A fantastic collection of early Calvin and Hobbes comics
Review: The Essential Calvin and Hobbes, first published in 1988, is chock full of early Calvin and Hobbes comic strips. No cartoonist, not even Charles Schultz, has captured the magical essence of childhood the way Bill Watterson did in this strip, and it should come as no surprise (although it did to Watterson) that Calvin and Hobbes quickly developed an incredibly loyal following. This strip went way beyond mere popularity. While I was in college, the campus newspaper decided to stop running Calvin and Hobbes (I think this was during one of Watterson's sabbaticals) - this resulted in nothing less than a furor on campus, as countless students immediately demanded the return of C&H. In a matter of days, Calvin and Hobbes were right back where they belonged. How does a comic strip featuring a mischievous six-year-old boy and his stuffed tiger attract a fiercely loyal following of adults? Most adults would love to be children again, to know the freedom and sense of wonder that somehow withers inside the human soul after the onset of puberty. Calvin and Hobbes vividly recreates the feelings and emotions of the very essence of childhood. It brings back memories of things we forgot far too long ago, and it thus reawakens the deepest parts of our ever-hardening souls. Reading this comic strip is the next best thing to being a child yourself. Calvin does everything you used to do: he takes time to stomp in mud puddles, he lets his imagination run wild to make thrilling adventures out of even the most mundane tasks, he ponders the same deep questions you are now, as an adult, afraid to ask, he goes for the gusto no matter what sort of risk is involved, he is in every way a perfect specimen of childhood. Who, as a child, didn't pretend to be a dinosaur, walk around with a hideous expression in hopes of your facing freezing that way, tease the girls (or boys) you claimed to hate, journey to distant worlds unseen by human eyes, etc.? Of course, Hobbes is just as important to the comic strip as Calvin. Hobbes is a tiger, Calvin's best and constant friend, a fellow partaker in the joys of childish innocence. To Calvin, Hobbes really is all that, and that is how we see him as well - until, that is, someone else comes into the frame, when he suddenly becomes nothing more than a stuffed animal. Watterson is a fantastic comic artist, and there is just something captivating about the way he draws Hobbes in his stuffed animal form. Everything about Watterson's art is fantastic, though, particularly the way it captures the emotions of its two principal characters. Sadly, we have only ten years of comic memories in the form of Calvin and Hobbes, as the inscrutable Bill Watterson retired (around the age of 37) in 1995 and quite obviously has no plans of returning to the public arena. Watterson is actually frighteningly private and seems to be living a life of unmatched solitude. I find this extraordinarily sad: here is a man who captured the essence of childhood so vividly in the form of Calvin and Hobbes, a world bursting with life and possibilities, yet now he seems to have withdrawn from life itself. We must be thankful we do have as much Calvin and Hobbes material as we do, and The Essential Calvin and Hobbes, with 255 pages of black and white daily strips and color Sunday strips, features much more than just a chunk of it in and of itself.
Rating:
Summary: A fantastic collection of early Calvin and Hobbes comics
Review: The Essential Calvin and Hobbes, first published in 1988, is chock full of early Calvin and Hobbes comic strips. No cartoonist, not even Charles Schultz, has captured the magical essence of childhood the way Bill Watterson did in this strip, and it should come as no surprise (although it did to Watterson) that Calvin and Hobbes quickly developed an incredibly loyal following. This strip went way beyond mere popularity. While I was in college, the campus newspaper decided to stop running Calvin and Hobbes (I think this was during one of Watterson's sabbaticals) - this resulted in nothing less than a furor on campus, as countless students immediately demanded the return of C&H. In a matter of days, Calvin and Hobbes were right back where they belonged. How does a comic strip featuring a mischievous six-year-old boy and his stuffed tiger attract a fiercely loyal following of adults? Most adults would love to be children again, to know the freedom and sense of wonder that somehow withers inside the human soul after the onset of puberty. Calvin and Hobbes vividly recreates the feelings and emotions of the very essence of childhood. It brings back memories of things we forgot far too long ago, and it thus reawakens the deepest parts of our ever-hardening souls. Reading this comic strip is the next best thing to being a child yourself. Calvin does everything you used to do: he takes time to stomp in mud puddles, he lets his imagination run wild to make thrilling adventures out of even the most mundane tasks, he ponders the same deep questions you are now, as an adult, afraid to ask, he goes for the gusto no matter what sort of risk is involved, he is in every way a perfect specimen of childhood. Who, as a child, didn't pretend to be a dinosaur, walk around with a hideous expression in hopes of your facing freezing that way, tease the girls (or boys) you claimed to hate, journey to distant worlds unseen by human eyes, etc.? Of course, Hobbes is just as important to the comic strip as Calvin. Hobbes is a tiger, Calvin's best and constant friend, a fellow partaker in the joys of childish innocence. To Calvin, Hobbes really is all that, and that is how we see him as well - until, that is, someone else comes into the frame, when he suddenly becomes nothing more than a stuffed animal. Watterson is a fantastic comic artist, and there is just something captivating about the way he draws Hobbes in his stuffed animal form. Everything about Watterson's art is fantastic, though, particularly the way it captures the emotions of its two principal characters. Sadly, we have only ten years of comic memories in the form of Calvin and Hobbes, as the inscrutable Bill Watterson retired (around the age of 37) in 1995 and quite obviously has no plans of returning to the public arena. Watterson is actually frighteningly private and seems to be living a life of unmatched solitude. I find this extraordinarily sad: here is a man who captured the essence of childhood so vividly in the form of Calvin and Hobbes, a world bursting with life and possibilities, yet now he seems to have withdrawn from life itself. We must be thankful we do have as much Calvin and Hobbes material as we do, and The Essential Calvin and Hobbes, with 255 pages of black and white daily strips and color Sunday strips, features much more than just a chunk of it in and of itself.
Rating:
Summary: Still funny after all these years...
Review: The newspaper strip has been gone for quite a few years now, but our boy Calvin and his stuffed (yet sometimes alive) tiger Hobbes have not lost their edge. I recently re-read this book for the first time in four or five years, and it holds up very well. Laughter is great medicine for body and soul, and an hour or two inside the covers of this one makes a person feel much, much better. A nice gift book for someone recuperating from surgery or an illness. Thanks, Bill Watterson...you have brought joy to so many who can't thank you in person!
Rating:
Summary: FUNNYY
Review: This book is a very funny book with awsome details and drawings. I recommend this to people with a sense of humor.
Rating:
Summary: This book lives up to it's name
Review: This is a great book .Calvin and his ' girl loving ' friend display many of their happy or so called happy times with his parents and Suzie . Their classic humour throughout the book will get you in stitches the whole way through . Share Calvin's life by getting this book .
Rating:
Summary: THIS BOOK IS THE BEST, CALVIN AND HOBS RULE
Review: This is a great book. I like every sinle calvin and Hobs book that i have read. What I like about this book the best is when ever i read it i go into his word. I don't just like it because it's hilarious. The onley thing i don't like is he uses the same stripes over and over in different books.
Rating:
Summary: Beyond description
Review: This is Positivly Watterson Imagination at it's best. Although it does somewhat lack Spaceman Spiff strips,( Whitch I don't really care for ) and has hardly any strips with Moe, this is one of Wattersons's best.This book has " Buy Me" printed all over it.
Rating:
Summary: hilarious
Review: truly and surely one of the best comic strips ever! were you to be sick in bed and need something to make you laugh, this is the best medicine!
Rating:
Summary: Intelligent, Well-Drawn, and Funny
Review: Watterson's "Calvin and Hobbes" comic strip is a true rarity. It is technically well-drawn, unlike so many other comics. It is intelligent, insightful, and has characters one can really relate to - but does not take itself too seriously and is above all funny and fun to read. It is the story of the world as seen through the eyes of a six-year-old, Calvin, and his best friend, a Tiger named Hobbes - which only Calvin sees as real, and the rest of the world sees as a stuffed doll... Most of all, the creator of the strip, Watterson, is a true rarity: he refused to commericalize the characters - the only product he sells are book collections of the original strip, like this one - and retired in 1995 when he felt he was beginning to become repetitive. Watterson literally walked away from millions of dollars to save the integrity of his creations, Calvin and Hobbes. For once, both the characters in the strip and their creator in real life teach us something about what is really important in life - and that it is not REALLY all about money and climbing the corporate ladder after all. Just compare the well-drawn, love-of-life, intelligent and uncommercialized Calvin&Hobbes to the poorly-drawn, cynical, shallow and commercialized-to-the-wazoo contraption named "Dilbert", for example. Compare the talent and integrity of Watterson to the talentless "sell out to whoever pays more" character of "Dilbert"'s creator. This will give you a REAL insight on what is wrong with the world.
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