The Complete Calvin and Hobbes (Calvin & Hobbes)

I'm in China. and when the box arrived today, one of the spines was broken.

But it is still worth it - the discount is good and the shipping costed only $9.98, especially when it is so heavy! And it only took a week!

And when i started reading it, i began laughing my heart out again. It's like meeting a long-time-no-see friend - so sweet and so warm. To a real fan of Calvin & Hobbes, it is really lucky to have a complete collection.

Think about it for a moment with me. I already own every Calvin and Hobbes book that has been published, so I own every one of the strips, some of them in multiples. So why would I, and many others, slap down nearly $100 for something we already own? Granted, given the weight of this collection, it's still cheaper, per pound then pretty much anything you'll find in the grocery store.
Is it perhaps that we felt gypped out of truck loads of Calvin and Hobbes merchendise? Maybe if Bill Waterson had caved in on his "No Merch" policy we wouldn't feel the need to buy this. A couple of coffee mugs and a t-shirt and we would have stayed happy with our paperback copies.
Well no that's not it. The fact is this hefty collection just seems the perfect way to preserve the Calvin and Hobbes legecy. For most of us who followed the strip through it's decade long run, it took on a deeply cherished place in our lives usually reserved for more formal forms of literature. This is because Waterson didn't just master the art form, he transcended it. With the simple tale of a boy and his tiger, he dug deeply into childhood, adulthood, and life in all it's forms, both pleasant and not so much. He hit all the notes. He didn't just make us laugh; he made us cry, think, and warmed our hearts with something as simple as a watercolor of Calvin and Hobbes walking in the snow.
And so yes, I spent my hundred dollars to re-buy a bunch of comic strips that I already own. And I, like most of the fans out there, was very pleased to do so.

The cover of volume 3 completely fell apart from the binding. Appalling work. I am trying to get something done about it but I have owned it for about a yeat ( although it has been treated with the utmost care) so it is doubtful anything can be done. Encourage people not purchase this book until Mcneel start to produce quality work.

The Complete Calvin and Hobbes is a great purchase. This massive set contains every C&H strip, with good printing quality, and the volumes are well-bound and sturdy. The intro written by Bill Watterson is an enjoyable read, and the strip is, of course, priceless. There's nothing like C&H, and there never will be again.

There are some glaring flaws, though, in both the printing and in the packaging. First, the strips aren't arranged in strictly chronological order. There are odd leaps and turn backs, mostly because the publisher elected to group Sunday strips. If the entire run of Calvin and Hobbes evened out to six weeklies and a Sunday strip, this would make some sense, but there are not always Sunday strips to end a week, and so sets of weeklies still end up split on opposite sides of the same piece of paper. It should have been in chronological order from start to finish.

The other complaint is that the covers and the box are made of a cheap material. It looks nice until it touches something, and then permanent marks are left. Also, the two pictures on the outside of the slipcase are pieces of paper that have been glued on. There's no reason those couldn't have been printed on. It would look nicer and last longer.

Still, a brilliant collection of a brilliant strip well worth your money.

I just received them today, I had to let you guys know that there was nothing wrong with product. No dents, scratch, etc... I didn't open the actually books, because it is a gift to someone else. I was so nervous that I would get them, and the package would be damage, but nothing!!!