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Calvin and Hobbes Books in Order: How to read Bill Watterson’s comic strip?

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The classic Calvin and Hobbes is a daily American comic strip created by cartoonist Bill Watterson that was syndicated from November 18, 1985, to December 31, 1995.

It follows the adventures of Calvin, a precocious, mischievous, and adventurous six-year-old boy, and Hobbes, his sardonic stuffed tiger. A smart child with poor grades in school, Calvin has a creative and philosophical mind but lacks restraint. He has a rich inner world and a precious friendship with his tiger. The anthropomorphic tiger is an independent creature with a dim view of human nature. He participates in all of Calvin’s activities, even when he knows it’s gonna end in trouble.

Calvin’s parents are typical middle-class, his father is a patent attorney and his mother is a stay-at-home mom. Calvin also interacts with Susie Derkins, a classmate who lives on the same street, Rosalyn, his babysitter, Mrs. Wormwood, his teacher, and Moe, the school bully.

Reading Calvin and Hobbes is the best way to kill time while we wait for life to shower us with meaning and happiness.

Calvin and Hobbes Books in Order:

The Complete Calvin and Hobbes

The Complete Calvin and Hobbes is available on hardcover or paperback. The hardcover edition is composed of three volumes while the paperback edition consists of four volumes, both of them in a sturdy slipcase.

The new Calvin and Hobbes Portable Compendium

This is the latest collection to date, all the Calvin and Hobbes strips in a new compact, portable format that will fit easily into backpacks as well as on the collector’s shelf of old and new readers.Seven volumes are announced.

The Original Calvin and Hobbes Paperback Collection

A part of those strips are also collected in:


Special Anthologies

No new strips in those anthologies, but insight into the cartooning process and other original materials.


Other Books

  • Teaching with Calvin and Hobbes
    Rare piece of officially licensed Calvin and Hobbes merchandise. Fifty-seven strips comprising five stories: “The Binoculars,” “The Find,” “The Christmas Story,” “The Bug Collection,” and “The Report”.
  • Exploring Calvin and Hobbes: An Exhibition Catalogue
    Catalog for the exhibit by the same name at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum at Ohio State University. Original art and commentary by Watterson.

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