Comic Strips

I primarily read Calvin and Hobbs and Peanuts this week. I picked these two because they are the two strips I actually read as a kid! Peanuts was always in the newspaper (which was obviously the only thing I was interested in), and my brother had the complete set of Calvin and Hobbs, so I would often sneak into his room to read it. It was really nice to be able to actually see all the nuances in it now as an adult, compared to little I was able to pick up as a kid.

Calvin and Hobbs was so intriguing and entertaining for me because the entirety of it hinged on childhood imagination. It also has a lot of nice, little moments of irony that I think are my favorite bits. An example I can remember is the two strips of them going sledding, and Calvin is asking some super deep question about life, and it ends with just some dumb-fun sledding. It breaks up the normal pace and tone of the strip, which makes it feel fresh. Another break that the strip does, is when it goes full force into Calvin's imagination when he is seeing himself as a space superhero. I enjoy the more half-and-half grounded ones more, so I didn't spend much time looking at the space ones, but I appreciate the strip being able to shift gears so often and effectively.

Peanuts was really impressive to read because it is able to get to the joke across in such a few amount of panels. It was also fun to see the progression of style that Peanuts went through. It started off very rounded, and a little more precise, but then it transformed into the iconic and more loose style that it is known for.