Scientific Project Goes "Boink"

A Calvin and Hobbes Collection 
by Bill Watterson

Six-year-old Calvin is pretty much a self-centered, lazy, conceited brat of a kid. With violent tendencies. So why does he crack me up so much. I think I enjoyed this volume a little better than the last one, because it had quite a few little story arcs through several strips in a row, presented in sequence. In the last collection it seemed like they were more randomly presented, with gaps. Maybe only favorites were selected for that one? There's also a good sense of time- a big chunk of the book is during winter- seems it's Calvin's favorite season, for the snowball-fight and sledding opportunities. Also he makes some very disturbing "artistic" tableaux with snowmen. I think some of the funniest episodes in here are when Calvin turns a cardboard box into a 'duplicator' and makes copies of himself. He thinks it will get him out of chores and homework, but their troublemaking gets him into trouble. He has more confrontations with the babysitter. His parents ploys to deal with him are pretty amusing too- mom telling him dinner is made of bug parts so he'll want to eat it, for example. His dad's made-up explanations for scientific things- just messing with the kid- are pretty funny too. And it's been so long since I read any of these comics I had completely forgotten a few parts- the one where Calvin and his stuffed tiger play a game of Scrabble made me laugh. I happen to commiserate with his difficulties playing on a baseball team. I was no good at that sport, either.

Rating: 4/5             128 pages, 1991