| The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book | |
|---|---|
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| First comic: | November 18, 1985 |
| Last comic: | January 1, 1995 |
| Sabbatical: | None |
| Other books | |
The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book (ISBN 0836204387)is an irregular Calvin and Hobbes printed collection. The book was released in October 1995 by Andrews & McMeel and is irregular for including story arcs and single strips judged relevant by Bill Watterson.
The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book consists largely of original content: an extensive introduction by Bill Watterson opens the book about the making of a comic strip, his inspirations and thoughts on its success; the strips are annotated with original commentary; and the book also contains descriptions of the cast of Calvin and Hobbes.
Calvin: "Why should I have to WORK for everything?! It's like saying I don't deserve it!"
The 10th anniversary book still remains popular today. In early 2013 Bill Watterson was interviewed by "The Plain Dealer" on the 15th anniversar of the end of Calvin and Hobbes explaining his decision to discontinue his strip. Bill Watterson said, "This isn't as hard to understand as people try to make it. By the end of ten years, I'd said pretty much everything I had come there to say. It's always better to leave the party early. If I had rolled along with the strip's popularity and repeated myself for another five, ten, or twenty years, the people now "grieving" for Calvin and Hobbes would be wishing me dead and cursing newspapers for running tedious, ancient strips like mine instead of acquiring fresher, livelier talent. And I'd be agreeing with them. I think some of the reason Calvin and Hobbes still finds an audience today is because I chose not to run the wheels off it. I've never regretted stopping when I did."
MERCHANDISING:
Bill Watterson insists that cartoon strips should stand on their own as an art for and has resisted the use of Calvin and Hobbes in merchandising of any sort. In a 2005 press release Watterson stated "Actually, I wasn't against all merchandising when I started the strip, but each product I considered seemed to violate the spirit of the strip, contradict its message, and take me away from the work I loved. If my syndicate had let it go at that, the decision would have taken maybe 30 seconds of my life."
Very little legitimate Calvin and Hobbes merchandise exists outside of the book collections with exception to (during the strip's original run) the two 16-month calendars (1988-1990). and the rare textbook "Teaching with Calvin and Hobbes.)