The Genius of Calvin Hobbes

Magic comes in many forms. It is at constant play in the world around us, every day, simply waiting for the eyes of the observer to find their way to it, open up, and truly see once again. It can be found, always, in nature; science begins to resemble it more and more everyday, and for the strongly attuned it exists even in the mundane world of humankind's dense constructs, where industry was thought to have long ago extinguished anything but a cheap replica of what we once knew of it.But it's never left ? it's simply gotten harder to find.

So rare has it become in the modern world that one needs to be a child to find it at all. Adults will often try to pull some form of it through, but to do so ? no matter what medium they're working in ? they need to possess the creative tools of a child. From engineers to play-writes to theologians, when one is trying to create magic in their given field, they need to go back to the source. .

This is what Bill Watterson managed to do with Calvin & Hobbes. It's a direct valve back to the foibles and voracity and beauty of youth, and good god is it funny! Very few books ever make me laugh out loud, but I always find I can come across a good-hearted belly laugh after only a few pages of any Calvin & Hobbes collection. It's been that way since I was eight, and I felt it was time to properly express my appreciation.I'm sure most of you are familiar with the strip, but a lot of people aren't aware just how rich it truly is. Yes, Calvin is a self-centered, bratty and unpredictable little six-year old, as are most. And yes, his stuffed tiger Hobbes only seemingly comes to life in his own world ? a world where they romp and play and fight like maniacs, explore the ends of the earth and charge through the cosmos; where they take the twisted mirth of film noir sci-fi and horror to ungodly limits ? but an imaginary world nonetheless.

Whether it's a joke about frozen boogers or the existence of God, the humor works on a number of different levels, as do so many other things in the strip. When you're eight years old you get the baseness of it all, and you kill yourself laughing. When you're an adult you see the entire framework, and you kill yourself laughing.Watterson knows his stuff.

Calvin was named for the 16th century theologian, John Calvin, the founder of 'Calvinism' (as much as that sounds like something the six-year old Calvin might come up with) which is a philosophy in which there exists an predetermined, unbreakable line between good and evil. Hobbes, on the other hand, was named for Thomas Hobbes, a 17th century philosopher who believed in the inherent selfishness of all humankind. This was the back-drop for the entire series. As you get deeper and deeper into the strip, there are references to environmentalism, postmodernism, commercialization in all its forms, and even Marxism (black-ball 'im!). And every time Calvin and his tiger get on a sled or mount that little red wagon, you know it's time for a serious existential conversation?.But at the heart of it all lies the real magic of the truly creative child's world, and that is where Watterson takes us.

Calvin does not possess an imagination, it possesses him. Most imaginary friends are someone an average child gets along with, but Hobbes is a constant challenge to nearly every paradigm that Calvin has set up, and though they love each other greatly, they often fight bitterly. There are certain scenarios that take place in a few of the strips where you find yourself thinking 'wait a minute, if Hobbes is stuffed, how is that possible?' The further you go, the more you quietly become privy to the world that is Calvin's, and the more the taut edges of the reality we've all had to 'grow-up' to find begin to loosen. As you laugh and muse and puzzle, slipping ever deeper into the dream that Watterson has cast for us, you begin to realize that ultimately, it's about the subjective nature of reality, which is one of the oldest debates known to our species.Beyond that, it's just damn funny.

(For a little insight on Watterson's devotion to his art ? one that no doubt cost him millions ? see believin for her blog Hobbes, Aslan and the commodification of a cat at the blogging community writingUp.).

By: Kyle W. McMillan