Calvin and Hobbes was always a bright spot of my weekend. A nice old lady at church used to save the Sunday Comics booklet from The News-Herald.
In December as quarantine and the darkness of winter began to engulf us I discovered a listing on eBay for a large collection of Calvin and Hobbes daily strips. Splurge!
Shortly after that, I found a nice lot of Sunday Comics from 1991, 1992, and 1993.
At this point, it seemed only reasonable that I should begin planning on how I would collect the entire run. The strip ran from November 18, 1985, through December 31, 1995.
Although that time period yields a total of
Bill Watterson earned two 9-month sabbaticals.
As a result, a total of 3,161 original strips were created.
As I dove headlong into the collection I began to discover attractive distractions. You see the definition of value is somewhat tied to the concept of rare. When supply is low and demand is high, then that item is considered valuable.
Bill Watterson fight a long hard battle with his employer, Universal Press Syndicate, against merchandising. He fought and won.
Watterson's position was that Calvin and Hobbes worked in the format of comic strips and nowhere else. Therefore he refused all merchandise opportunities. He also kept and then donated all of the original art. As a result, anything original and not mass-produced is rare and therefore valuable.
Newspaper Complete Collection: I have already been told several times that a printed, bound, with slipcase version exists. However, I think the rare nature of Calvin and Hobbes and that of delicate newsprint makes it nostalgic and rare.
The following pages are for my amusement and joy. If you find joy, then all the better.