Calvin and Hobbes is a classic, something that hardly needs to be mentioned - delighting generations of readers in the past and hopefully generations in the future. Straining at the edges of its fairly insular medium of newspaper comics, C&H combines gorgeously simple drawings with an incendiary wit, delivered by the comic's unstoppable Calvin. With Hobbes serving as the softer foil to Calvin's industrious mayhem, the two form a narrative duo that can simultaneous perceive and question all sides of the events that life throws out to them, while reserving their judgement just enough to allow the reader reflection rather than argument.
The purely fantasy elements of C&H's world are wonderful escapes from the typically mundane world the characters are trapped within - Watterson excellently portrays the fanciful ness of childhood imagination and escape with a deft and welcoming sense of style.
The few examples of recurring storylines are counterpoint to the strip's normally random and independent structure wherein the characters are free to act as insane and unbound by the conventions of society as they like. C&H was an essential part of my childhood, allowing me a place to explore strange and wonderful ideas typically barred from a child's daily life - strangely enough.
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