The Calvin and Hobbes Lazy Sunday Book: A Collection of Sunday Calvin and Hobbes Cartoons [Library Binding]

This book opens with a 10 page mini-story about Spaceman Spiff, Interplanetary Explorer Extraordinaire. The art in this story is very good. I think that Bill Watterson was born in the wrong era. He would have been much happier in the era when Sunday comics were permitted a full page to tell a refined story, where the art was rich with detail.

Once into the book you get a collection of comics that originally appeared in Sunday newspapers. While the humor level varies, most will make you smile, and some will give you laughs. It would be impossible to describe the variety stories, but a couple of examples will help.

In one story Calvin has glued paper feathers to his arm in order to fly. Consistent with Bill Watterson's father's profession (he's a patent attorney), Calvin tells Hobbes that he will get the patent when his device works. Hobbes gives Calvin a heave over a cliff with predictable results. Hobbes advises Calvin, "Don't sell the bike shop, Orville."

For a Mother's Day related strip, Calvin has created a Mother's Day card, including a poem he wrote himself. Included in the poem are comments regarding the size of his allowance, and the poem ends with a request to get out of bed and cook breakfast. His mothers comment? "I'm deeply moved."

This collection is filled with a variety of Calvin and Hobbes staples. Calvin the dinosaur makes several appearances, there are a variety of snowman comics, there are a number of with Susie Derkins, and Calvin's usually bizarre viewpoint of life. Given the quality of the book, the longer length of the strips, and the full color, I consider this book to be a very good value, particularly when you consider other graphic books of similar size. Bill Watterson has been a consistently good writer and artist, and each of these full page, full color strips will be a treat for fans of the series and anyone else in need of a smile.

"The Calvin and Hobbes Lazy Sunday Book" opens with Calvin's 10-page adventure as Spaceman Spiff, interplanetary explorer extraordinaire, with one mission in mind: to destroy all aliens, which in real life, are disguised as his mother and Susie. Very funny stuff. Yet Calvin's wild imagination doesn't stop there. For the rest of the colorful 100+ pages, he agitates his parents mercilessly, particularly his father; while with his mother, he aversely chokes down every disgusting meal she cooks, making some of the funniest faces while doing so. A lot of times, his expressions say more than any number of words. Take the family meal scene on page 30, where he makes a long-drawn-out attempt at tasting the green pile of gunk on his plate. Then there's a good facial example on page 104, where he's sitting, reading a book; then looks up with this absolutely wicked smile on his face. You can only imagine what he's up to--and it's definitely not safe.

Then come the metamorphosis strips where Calvin pretends to be every imaginable type of creature, from a loudmouthed sparrow to a hungry dinosaur to a human slinky and beyond. And, of course, there's always a worthy battle or two with monsters and bedbugs in, around, and under his bed--all in the faithful company of his favorite toy tiger, Hobbes.

Two of my favorites in this book involve snowmen. Yep, you guessed it: the one where Calvin creates a morbid snowman display on his parent's car--one of them appears to have been hit by the car, while the other three snowmen gawk at the maimed body (p 53). The other is where he makes a dozen or so little snowmen and then devours them all in a dinosaur frenzy (p 101).

No matter how times I've read this book, I can re-read it again and again, and still find something new and amusing about it. Even if you're vaguely familiar with Calvin and Hobbes, I highly recommend purchasing this book. It's a riot.