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Although famous for his comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson receives little credit for his poems that appear sporadically. Some poems, such as 'Tyrannosaur', appear in syndicated newspapers as Sunday stripes, while others, such as A Nauseous Nocturne, are added in collection. One of the problems with Watterson’s poems is that they are only given titles when composed for a treasury book or collection. Titles are given by readers according to theme or key words. Sometimes in the case of The Indispensable Calvin & Hobbes Poem (explorers are we), the title is given according to the name of the book it is in.

Watterson is capable of writing poems unequaled literary quality. Watterson does a master job of writing a poem from the point of a six year old. Calvin is no idiot; the strips may make him out to be dumb, but he is not. The Poems reflect this in his vocabulary and expression. Watterson's poems tie into the strip itself. Calvin & Hobbes is not about throw away jokes and punch lines, it is about the characters. Part of Watterson’s success in cartooning comes from his ability to make believable entertaining characters that the reader can connect with. Calvin, though only six, is able to deal with death and sadness as well as anybody could. For example, when Calvin finds a sick raccoon, he is deeply touched by his predicament. This strip shows that Calvin, with the comfort of Hobbes, is able to handle such heavy handed topics. This allows Watterson to write poems that are not only funny, but touching aswell. Watterson's Christmas Eve shows Calvin’s personality in more than the humor dimension. In Christmas Eve, Watterson manages to describe Christmas through the eyes of a six year old. Presents are mentioned, but Calvin favors the moment in which he is laying against Hobbes in the splendor of nature and the Christmas spirit. In A Nauseous nocturne, Watterson creates wonderful imagery.

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