Slightly Off Center

Guess who just got back from the Calvin and Hobbes exhibit at the university art museum?

It's (Still) A Magical World, Hobbes, Ol' Buddy is an exhibit of original comic art by the amazing Bill Watterson, on at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art through February 2. Watterson donated over 3000 pieces to the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum at Ohio State University; this is the first time any of the collection has been shown anywhere except that institution. The show features oversize reproductions and clever bits--the oversize sticker art in the elevator was surprising--but also thirty-odd original pieces, two weekly and one Sunday strip from each year of the comics' 1985-1995 run.

As former cartoonist myself, I was always amazed by the quality of Watterson's art. Seeing it in person, the pen and brush-strokes, the occasional white-out and redrawing, only made me respect it more.

We'd originally planned to bring one tiger and one bunny--for Mr. Bun--but decided we each deserved a Hobbes. And thus were delighted to find one of the time-travel strips, featuring present and future Hobbes side by side.

After we'd finished with a boy and his tiger, we went upstairs to visit the rest of the collection, which includes some very fine Chinese, Japanese and Korean art: paintings, pottery, jade carvings and amazing embroidered clothing. Up on the second floor landing, there was also a lovely show of metal-smithing, including a number of pieces by our old friend, Max Nixon.