When comics are mentioned, they are usually either super heroes or famous newspaper strips. Names such as Superman, Batman, Spiderman, Peanuts, Garfield, and Calvin and Hobbes. Although all great in their own forms, only one of the aforementioned strips was genuinely influential to my life, that being Calvin and Hobbes
Calvin and Hobbes was first published in 1985, by young advertiser Bill Watterson. It was a way for him to escape his everyday, boring life, and to express his inner child and psychological interests. It follows the story of a misbehaving 6 year old boy, Calvin, and his stuffed tiger, Hobbes. However, in Calvin’s imagination Hobbes is a real tiger, and his best friend.
One of the first strips I remember reading was about a forest near their house getting cleared to make room for condos. The conversation that ensues between them is why I was drawn to this comic. It was the opinions and vocabulary of an adult, but expressed with the innocence and humor of a child. Now, with me being a young, easily influenced kid, I started to mimic certain things in the comics.
Up until this point in my life, I was more of an indoorsy person, spending my weekends watching T.V., or sitting in my room. But, after one specific compilation of strips, dubbed Yukon Ho! My perspective changed vastly.
In this story, Calvin doesn’t want to clean his room, and makes the rational decision to secede from his family, and intends to head to the Yukon territory of Canada. He packs a globe, a dart gun, one sandwich, and a sled, and heads north. About 20 minutes into his expedition, he gets into a fight with Hobbs, and returns home.
Although a brief story, only lasting 12 or so strips (1 per day, usually 3 panels per strip) I decided to do something similar. I grabbed a few cheese sticks from the fridge, a few toy cars from a basket, and headed towards the nearest forestry area, which happened to be some open space about a block away from our house.
I walked for what felt like eternity (realistically it was about 15 minutes) until I found a clearing surrounded by rocks. The first thing I noticed was the lack of noise. Not just audibly, as there were no cars honking or people yelling, but visually too. There were no flashy colors, no advertising billboards, no vibrant cars, just the natural greens and browns and greys seen in nature. It was oddly refreshing for me, as if there were no problems in this little oasis I had stumbled upon, just quiet.
When I got home, after my glorious expedition, that area in the hills sat with me for a while. Whenever I would come across some mundane problem, like extra homework or an upcoming test, I would return to that clearing and just sit for a while.
Watterson’s brilliance had also foreseen this bliss, as he grew up in the forestry areas of Ohio, and this idea was seen in one of my personal favorite strips, where Calvin and Hobbes just sit and enjoy the nature around them. Naturally, he adds a bit of his humor in the situation, adding many new layers to the simple comic.
In the years after this, I have come across many challenges, but all were met with similar solutions, surrounding myself with natural things, untouched by humans. Whether it is going on a hike, a run, or just sitting in that same clearing, I thank the works of Bill Watterson, and his creation Calvin, of getting me out of the house, and into a better place.
