Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 9, 1991 TAG: 9104090312
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Tracie Fellers / staff writer
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Just about everybody who reads it, that is.
The comic strip, created by Bill Watterson, has enjoyed enormous popularity since it was syndicated in November 1985. It has appeared in the comic pages of the Roanoke Times & World-News since 1987 and runs in more than 1,800 newspapers.
Its look at life through the eyes and experiences of brash, bratty and precocious Calvin has earned it millions of fans.
But after nearly five years of creating Calvin and Hobbes adventures and cultivating a large and loyal group of readers, Watterson is taking a nine-month break. Starting May 5, instead of seeing Calvin outsmart a new generation of snow goons or go into another galaxy as Spaceman Spiff, readers will have to settle for reprints of strips from November 1985 to February 1987.
But that's a benefit of sorts for Roanoke Times & World-News readers, who will be seeing Calvin's earliest troublemaking efforts in their pages for the first time.
Watterson, who has a well-deserved reputation for guarding his privacy, doesn't do interviews. So we decided to do the next best thing - seek out Calvin and Hobbes devotees for their thoughts.
An informal survey of parents, kids and teens Friday afternoon at two favorite family spots - Showbiz Pizza and Tanglewood Mall - turned up nearly as many people who don't read Calvin and Hobbes as those who do.
But most of those who do read the strip said Calvin's frequent flights of unbridled imagination give it its humor - and a certain degree of realism.
"I think it's funny because children have such vivid imaginations," said Sandra Ruff, mother of Temple, 7, and Lex, 3. Ruff and her children were winding up a visit to Showbiz Pizza on Friday afternoon.
"I think their stories really are true to life," Ruff said of Calvin and Hobbes. Things like that have happened with her kids, she added.
"I like [the strip] myself - he always has someone to blame if things don't go right," Ruff said with a laugh.
A group of teen-age guys taking it easy in Tanglewood Mall's food court had different reasons for following the strip. Zack Grice, Dan Shockley, Forrest Flanary, Mark Burns and Will Murray - who are students at Cave Spring Junior High School - all read Calvin and Hobbes. But Shockley and Flanary, who are both 15, were most articulate about its appeal.
"I think it's hilarious," Shockley said.
Flanary was first to respond when the group was asked what makes the strip so funny: "The stuff [Calvin] does, the way they draw the facial expressions. And his hair." The last comment got grins and guffaws of agreement from Flanary's friends.
Peter Schultz, a student at Cave Spring High School who was cruising the mall with his friends Friday afternoon, said he reads Calvin and Hobbes " 'cause it's there" in the comics pages. But after acknowledging that he finds the strip funny, Schultz, 16, also had another reason: "The tiger ain't real - that's kind of weird."
Out of about 20 people surveyed, Linda Leedy and her son, J.P., 14, came closest to Calvin and his mom. J.P., who has red hair, freckles and brown eyes with a mischievous gleam, was quick to respond when first asked about Calvin and Hobbes.
"He [Calvin] relates to me," J.P. said. "All the things he does, I do - leaves his room a mess, daydreams in school . . ." His mom chimed in to finish the list: "Blames everyone else for what he does wrong." J.P. grinned.
Leedy described Calvin as "the epitome of the bad part of every kid." But if J.P. is as much like the cartoon character as he says, she seems to take it all in stride.
"I've got three boys, and what he hasn't done, the rest of them have."
by CNB