writes:
>There was a short blurb about "Calvin And Hobbes" in today's
>Washington _Post_ ("Personalities" section, Style 3). I don't
>have it in front of me, but apparently he said something about
>his interests changing and feeling that he'd done just about
>all he could in the small-panel, daily deadline format.
>That was enough to kick in my speculation circuits.
Me too, but on a different level.
I've always thought that it would be extremely fun to be the author of
the *final* C&H strip. You know, Waterson decides to retire and shuts
down the strip. Here are some ideas that I've had:
Idea 1. Calvin the grownup is sitting in his chair reading the
newspaper and his son comes to him saying, "Dad! Dad! I found this
cool tiger in the attic!" and the Calvin the grownup responds, "You
better be careful, if you don't feed him tunafish sandwiches he'll get
angry." His wife, Susie Durkins, and he chuckle and the son looks
confused or says something like, "I'll never understand those two!"
However that's a little too sweet. Here's my other idea:
You see, it is important that the final strip deals with whether or not
Hobbes is real or not. So, you'd expect some kind of Twiligh-Zone
ending where you just plain aren't sure. I'd hate that. I propose the
following.
Idea 2. For a couple weeks Calvin is getting beat up by Hobbes worse
and worse each time. The parents believe it is the school bully and
take action at the Principal's office, etc. Calvin keeps warning his
parents, "It's Hobbes!", "I need more tuna!", "I can't control him!",
etc. etc. Finally there is some kind of build up that ends the week
with the parents locking Calvin in his room without any supper as
punishment for embarrassing them so. His last words are, "You can't
lock us together in my bedroom without any food!" Then, the last strip
is a Sunday edition. One frame. His parents standing at the opening
to Calvin's bedroom with looks of horror in their faces. Blood
everywhere, their son maulled to death and Hobbes sitting on the bed
with blood-stained mouth and paws. The Sunday color comics will never
have used so much red in one strip before... and the controversy will
make sure it Waterson goes down in history.
I place this idea in the Public Domain. Go for it, Mr. Waterson!
*evil* *grin*