Below is the Calvin and Hobbes strip from the day I was born ... I hoped to feel a connection to this comic strip. Some sort of link or affinity of some kind that would prompt me to write a very heart-felt, personal blog, about how the strip changed my life and made me realize that even I can't bullshit this much.
But then, after reading this strip over and over again, I came to a conclusion (the Wagner beating in my ear helped a little, but I still hold that it was me re-reading the strip that gave me insight.) Calvin has been away playing again, making him late for dinner, and so his parents ask him where he has been. Calvin, being the imaginative little troublemaker that he is, spins an impromptu tall-tale involving a balloon, his 'transmogrifier' and a convenient return to his natural state - ending with a snide comment about his mother's cooking. His mother then makes a comment about Calvin transmogrifying himself into smeone who makes more sense.
Now, to the average reader this would seem nothing more than a very simple Calvin and Hobbes strip - there isn't much undercurrent, but it involves a decent amount of imagination. In fact, the sharp-eyed reader could even tell that this strip is really only here to segue from the last story arc to the normal flow of the strip.
But what this strip is really about is the playfullness and vitality of youth, and even life itself. All Calvin and Hobbes strips have this intrinsic vibrancy to them, and this is a fine example of it (if not the best.) The contrast of Calvin's imaginative ramblings and his Parent's firm rooting in reality is not only hilarious, but the way each intrudes into the other (Calvin interacting with Reality and his Parents commenting on Calvin's fantasies) is also a good source of banter and fun.
But how this strip really speaks to me, is through its simplicity - there are no hidden philosophies, no political statements, no jibes at rivals. Just plain, simple fun. A bit like a Dennis the Menace cartoon, only funny. This strip has nothing else of note, nothing even remotely interesting, or curious, or worth mentioning about it, so I'm just going to stop here. Maybe next time I'll pick a more interesting strip (I just thought, Hey! It's my birthday strip, and it C&H, It'll be fun! But what the fuck do I know) So anyway, this is me bullshitting about this lame comic strip (Watterson could have done any other strip, any of the fun ones or the deep ones that I could write a whole fucking essay on, but no he had to wrote this lukewarm piece of-)
That's all I have to say on this subject, hopefully in another blog I'll choose a subject that is actually worth writing about, and not just something mediocre and 'transitional' like this contrived little piece of-
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