History
Welcome to the History section of Planet Calvin and Hobbes 2000. This is mostly just a few paragraphs about the important facts of the Calvin and Hobbes Age.
On November 18, 1985, readers in 35 newspapers across the country picked up their newspaper, and turned to the comics section. There was a fascinating strip there. A young boy named Calvin, (we don't even see what his hair looks like) is telling his dad his first words in the funnies. "So long, Pop, I'm off to check my tiger trap."
As it turned out the young boy (who we learn later is six years of age.) had set out a tuna fish sandwich as a trap to catch a tiger. In this first strip, Hobbes' love for tuna fish was revealed and used all the time, in later strips.
In the last panel, our first look at Hobbes is an intersting one, the tiger is munching on his sandwich, hanging upside down in a tree, and acting nonchalant. Hobbes' first words are "We're kind of stupid that way."
As "Calvin and Hobbes" became more popular, the strip expanded from 35 newspapers only in English to thousands of newspapers, in several different languages. C&H continued raising in popularity, and the sydicate that owned "Calvin and Hobbes", Universal Press Syndicate, wanted to market C&H products. Bill Watterson continued fighting this, it was a fight he won, but he ended up retiring because of that, and over-work.
In 1991 and 1994, Bill Watterson took sabbaticals from writing "Calvin and Hobbes" much to fans' dismay. Then about a year after taking his 2nd sabbatical, Bill Watterson retired.
The last strip was probably the best way Bill Watterson could have backed out of drawing "Calvin and Hobbes", it allows for "endless possibilites", and if Bill wants to, he can continue writing C&H right were he left off.
