Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Not Watterson, but a very Calvin-like cartoon


In yesterday's post about cartoonist Bill Watterson, commenter Steve said:

Mr. Watterson is still writing and Calvin is now grown up.

Check out the comic "Frazz" and tell me that this is not Watterson writing about Calvin as an adult:

http://comics.com/frazz/

Here is the theory about Calvin being Frazz:

http://meyerweb.com/eric/thoughts/2004/04/13/conspiracy-theory/


Intrigued, I followed the links he provided. I have to agree with him that Frazz is very like Calvin and Hobbes in drawing style, sense of humor, and subject matter (i.e. kids at school). However, further investigation suggests that its author, Jeff Mallett, isn't Bill Watterson working under a pseudonym. The comments on a thread referenced by Mr. Meyer militate against it, and a Wikipedia article on the cartoon strip notes the similarity to Calvin and Hobbes, but denies any link.

Nevertheless, Frazz is a lot of fun. Here's today's cartoon, just to show you what it's like.




I plan to read Frazz regularly for a few weeks and see whether it grows on me. If it does, I'll add it to my list of recommended online cartoons. Thanks for the link, Steve.

Peter
at

3 comments:

  1. AnonymousDecember 22, 2010 at 6:43 AM

    I think you will enjoy the experience and will follow the strip. It's refreshing to see an artist treat kids as logical and thinking people.

    ReplyDelete
  2. SteveDecember 22, 2010 at 10:18 AM

    I agree with Anon. When Frazz hit our paper in Cincinnati, I immediately enjoyed it - now my 10 YO son reads it regularly. Especially as he is now nose deep into my old C&H compilations.

    Interesting connection - I never gave it any thought. I would tend to agree that the strips are seperate.

    Merry Christmas!
    Steve

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousDecember 22, 2010 at 5:48 PM

    Frazz is the Hobbes character.

    The kids are the Calvin character.

    Frazz is a big time bicyclist, like his (Calvin's) father.

    Frazz's girlfriend has a very Susie Derkins vibe about her.

    The teachers that Frazz works with are much like Miss Wormwood, Calvin's teacher.

    Calvin and Frazz have the same hair.

    And Calvin would grow up to be a janitor (Frazz) because of his bad grades, not a professional like a doctor, engineer or lawyer. That is to say that Calvin was not book smart.

    Dinosaurs make appearances (See Dec. 12th strip).

    Just look at the last panel of the Dec. 8th strip and tell me that is not a perfect match for a Calvin and Hobbes strip.

    ReplyDelete

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