16 November 16

Today I'm celebrating the creation of Calvin and Hobbes®, which first appeared on 18 November 1985. That's 31 years of knowing "There's Treasure Everywhere!" Bill Watterson drew the comic for (only) ten years but the "history" of Calvin and Hobbes continues growing with every smile about the boy and his tiger. My tie has an image of Calvin and Hobbes -- balance-walking atop a park bench -- but out of deference to Bill Watterson's wishes I am not revealing that image here. Watterson has permitted only a few uses of his wonderful characters outside the official comics and published books; as explained in Wikipedia, he has consistently "refused to merchandise his creations on the grounds that displaying Calvin and Hobbes images on commercially sold mugs, stickers, and T-shirts would devalue the characters and their personalities." So my tie is actually "bootleg merchandise," but I'm wearing it for my own private enjoyment and for smiles from people I meet in person. For my public blog I'm hiding the image behind my boxed set of The Complete Calvin and Hobbes! The comic strip is still republished every day; here's a link to yesterday's story: http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2016/11/15.