Books (Comic Strip): The Complete Calvin & Hobbes

Yesterday, I got a very nice birthday present (even though I bought it myself). Months ago, I had pre-ordered Bill Waterson's The Complete Calvin & Hobbes, and it finally arrived right on my birthday.

Two years ago, Gary Larson published The Complete Far Side, a very heavy two-volume hard-bound collection of all of the Far Side cartoons. The Complete Calvin & Hobbes is similar in concept: even heavier (I had to schlep it five blocks from the post office) and three volumes, it's another beautifully printed collection of one of my all-time favourite comic strips (up there with The Far Side, Pogo, and Peanuts).

I've only just started reading the books. They open with a nice little biography by the very reclusive Watterson, and then goes straight into the strips. It's going to take forever to get through them (just like it had with The Complete Far Side). They're just too big and heavy to read in bed, and they're so beautifully made that I don't dare read them over dinner.

Calvin & Hobbes is currently being re-syndicated on the web by United Media Comics.