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ashkitty93's review against another edition
4.0
A nice little book about a fan's odyssey to uncover the history of one of his idols. I'm a huge fan of Calvin & Hobbes as well and it was nice to hear how passionate someone else is too; after all, we're talking about a comic strip which has only ever existed as such -- there have been no plush dolls or other merchandise -- and which ended nearly TWENTY YEARS AGO.
I have to blame my dad for getting me hooked on Calvin when I was in middle school or high school; I always loved the comics like Beetle Bailey, Garfield, Baby Blues, Family Circus, Peanuts of course, and Zits. Dad had copies of Something Under the Bed is Drooling and Attack of the Deranged Mutant Killer Monster Snow Goons, which I devoured. From there, I checked out the 10th Anniversary collection from the school library and I've been hooked ever since. I now own three treasury collections plus a few of the other Calvin & Hobbes books, and I'm dying to get the Complete Calvin & Hobbes.
Looking For Calvin & Hobbes is definitely a good addition to my personal library shelf, even if Martell never got to meet Watterson. It serves as an excellent reminder about determination and sticking to your guns.
I have to blame my dad for getting me hooked on Calvin when I was in middle school or high school; I always loved the comics like Beetle Bailey, Garfield, Baby Blues, Family Circus, Peanuts of course, and Zits. Dad had copies of Something Under the Bed is Drooling and Attack of the Deranged Mutant Killer Monster Snow Goons, which I devoured. From there, I checked out the 10th Anniversary collection from the school library and I've been hooked ever since. I now own three treasury collections plus a few of the other Calvin & Hobbes books, and I'm dying to get the Complete Calvin & Hobbes.
Looking For Calvin & Hobbes is definitely a good addition to my personal library shelf, even if Martell never got to meet Watterson. It serves as an excellent reminder about determination and sticking to your guns.
misscandice's review against another edition
2.0
This book was just ok. I did not care for the writing style. It was written like it was a soapy tell-all book, where people "revealed" things to the author.
satyajitc's review against another edition
2.0
Just a bunch of fan frothery, along with a bunch of opinions from different cartoonists. Nothing that I didn't know about, from the various interviews available on the Internet, except that Watterson was unkind to cartoonists selling out for merchandising, and pissed off Mort Walker and Jim Davis at an awards ceremony. They still speak kindly of him though.
jahearn0627's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
I love Calvin and Hobbes. I didn’t realize everyone else did too. If you like that comic, read this book
corpoto's review against another edition
2.0
A semi-enjoyable account of C&H and Bill Watterson, but it is severely marred by the lack of access to Watterson himself. Martell tries very hard, but it's not that interesting to ready a few hundred pages of 2nd hand accounts from college classmates and old neighbors. If we want to get cynical, is this not a merchandised cash-in that Watterson has been fighting against for decades? Definitely can skip it unless you are the biggest C&H fan of all time. Also, Mental Floss's recent exclusive with Watterson pretty much renders this obsolete. Better off reading that or old C&H compendiums.
szeglin's review against another edition
3.0
Although this book is a little bogged down with clunky and already-dated pop culture references (Season 2 of Flavor of Love, I'm looking at you), it's as close as we get to a biography of Watterson and a history of his beloved strip (and his struggles with fame and the commercialization of comics, of course). I'm sad that there are no illustrations at all--it's all text. It's easy for me to picture the strips, as I've read all of them obsessively so many times, but it's still a letdown.
Martell chose to tackle an extremely difficult subject, given how Watterson shuns any sort of attention. He did give one interview a couple of months back, but it was very short. Martell did well considering the constraints of his subject. I certainly learned things both about the strip and Watterson himself that I didn't know. This book was very much like candy--easy to finish, but ultimately not entirely satisfying and leaves you hungry for more. Perhaps it's time for me to reread Watterson's oeuvre for the umpteenth time.
Martell chose to tackle an extremely difficult subject, given how Watterson shuns any sort of attention. He did give one interview a couple of months back, but it was very short. Martell did well considering the constraints of his subject. I certainly learned things both about the strip and Watterson himself that I didn't know. This book was very much like candy--easy to finish, but ultimately not entirely satisfying and leaves you hungry for more. Perhaps it's time for me to reread Watterson's oeuvre for the umpteenth time.
violetu's review against another edition
2.0
This was a very well-researched book - plenty of interesting facts and details about Bill Watterson - but I'm not a fan of Nevin Martell's writing style, personally, so I'm rating it low as a result. Fans of the comic strip who want to know more about the elusive creator should check it out, however.