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A review by ethancf
It's a Magical World by Bill Watterson
5.0
And with that, I've finished my re-read of the C+H books. I still have a bit to go because I'm reading the books with extensive notes from Watterson, but there are no new strips waiting to be uncovered. It's bittersweet, but mostly I'm glad Watterson ended it when he was out of things to say and do. Even in this volume, it's becoming apparent that these antics can only last so long: reading the entire run of comics in a short span reveals plenty of repeated gags and ideas. One thing I found interesting was that even though Calvin stayed the same age, there were more mentions of tech as the years went along, with a handful of references to the internet in later books.
In this last volume, I was struck most by how many strips it seems as though Watterson is begging us to listen. There's a pleading tone to some of these strips, lamenting the way society is progressing and yearning for a return to simpler times. Normally, that leaves a bad taste in my mouth - those "simpler times", more often than not, also came at great cost to civil rights. But that doesn't seem to be Watterson's intention - no, his version of the American Dream is not the prosperous but oppressive 1950's. It is not the neatly trimmed lawn with the white picket fence, built on a paved over forest. It is the house in the middle of the wilderness, it is having the time for leisure. Most of the issues Watterson takes umbrage with the modern age have only gotten worse since he's stopped writing: sensationalized news, pollution, politics...
If only we could all return to the Ohio wilderness with our best friend and careen down hills in a wagon, filling our days with a contented nothingness.
In this last volume, I was struck most by how many strips it seems as though Watterson is begging us to listen. There's a pleading tone to some of these strips, lamenting the way society is progressing and yearning for a return to simpler times. Normally, that leaves a bad taste in my mouth - those "simpler times", more often than not, also came at great cost to civil rights. But that doesn't seem to be Watterson's intention - no, his version of the American Dream is not the prosperous but oppressive 1950's. It is not the neatly trimmed lawn with the white picket fence, built on a paved over forest. It is the house in the middle of the wilderness, it is having the time for leisure. Most of the issues Watterson takes umbrage with the modern age have only gotten worse since he's stopped writing: sensationalized news, pollution, politics...
If only we could all return to the Ohio wilderness with our best friend and careen down hills in a wagon, filling our days with a contented nothingness.