Eaglie's Aviary

Friday, February 05, 2010

Still Sledding, Fifteen Years Later

My friend Chris said he knew I was a genius for loving Calvin & Hobbes. Didn't everyone who grew up in the late Eighties and early Nineties love Calvin & Hobbes though? Are we ALL geniuses?

Hell no.

What Chris meant by that is he knew enough comedians, writers, and actors who also loved "Calvin & Hobbes." They loved it to pieces. But that still sounds like everyone I knew back in the day. You have pretty good odds of a resounding "yes" when you ask any gaggle of up-and-coming stars and artists whether they read "Calvin & Hobbes" as kids.

Fifteen years ago, I read the last comic Bill Watterson wrote and went "huh." I wanted the comic to end on a funny note. It didn't! It was a damned philosophy strip! Of course, I still liked it and teared up. And I still well up every time I read it in my collection. And I still have the original Tribune printing clipped out. And I muffle my sobbing with a goose-down pillow.

Last week, a Cleveland Plain Dealer interview with the reclusive writer/artist hit the Web and spread like wildfire. (Dead reclusive writer J.D. Salinger comparisons spread with it.)

Mr. Bill Watterson looks like the father and sounds a little like Calvin and Hobbes (less so the actual philosophers). He carries himself with a true elite attitude of an artiste, but I like that in a guy.

And we all read the interview. (Even the stupid ones.) We stopped doing whatever we were doing to read it. (I stopped showering.) Yes, we are still a generation stuck in nostalgia. Whether it is a boy and his tiger or a boy and his dragon, we will always remember.

A Jagged Gorgeous Winter - The Main Drag from Main Drag on Vimeo.



I think that video was a repost.

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