Sunday, August 14, 2005
The funnies
I gave in yesterday and pre-ordered the Complete Collection of Calvin and Hobbes. It took some hard thinking for oh, at least ten seconds. Now it's just a matter of waiting 51 days 16 hours 28 minutes until it's shipped. The publisher Andrews McMeel has even set up a countdown clock on their web site for friends of Calvin.
I hope that this idea of doing complete collections doesn't keep spreading to all comics. It started with The Far Side almost two years ago. The concept of putting the entire body of cartoons into one set was unheard of then, and Gary Larson was probably the only author who could have pulled it off. But it was done authoritatively, and it became enormously popular for a long time. I bought my set through Amazon and spent many weekends admiring the beautiful artwork and warped sense of humor. Now comes Calvin and Hobbes, and I am sure that it will be just as well crafted and fun to read.
But the trend is not likely to stop here. We've also had the Complete Peanuts box sets, the first of which came out in spring 2004 and has since sold over 100,000 copies. Now the same publisher, Seattle-based Fantagraphics has announced that in September, they will publish the first book in a 25-volume series, "Hank Ketcham's Complete Dennis the Menace." The series will run 11 years and reprint every "Dennis the Menace" newspaper strip -- nearly 11,000 strips spanning more than 44 years.
Oh Billy, you think we should run away and join another family?
All of that is making me nervous. I sprung for The Far Side, I am happily buying Calvin and Hobbes, but I am still on the fence for Peanuts, and Dennis is definitely a long shot. I hope they don't tempt me with Family Circus. I don't think I can handle the pressure.
- posted by Woofwoof @ 7:32 AM
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