From Charlie to Calvin : It's losers ball

Charles. M. Schulz and Bill Watterson are probably the greatest cartoonists of the 20th century. They lent a new dimension to the art of writing cartoon strips and introduced a new genre of cartoon strips where the writing was as important as the art. Their handling of everyday issues and chronicling of innocent yet melancholic childhood has created an immense fan following.
The most prominent similarity between "Peanuts" and "Calvin and Hobbes" is that both strips are about losers. It gives a unique perspective of the world through the eyes of a loser. On one side we have Charlie Brown,the inveterate worrier. He can be spotted in his sweater, head down, hands in his pockets heading towards Lucy's psychiatric clinic. He's awful at baseball and flying kites, but is undeterred in his quest to conquer adversity. He greatly adores his li'l sister Sally, the sweet girl next door who is always looking for the easy way out and whose view of life gives us an insight into the frustration and confusion that kids experience. Then there is Linus and his security blanket, the intellectual who comes up with deep philosophical revelations. And of course Snoopy, the dreaming beagle and his little companion Woodstock. Schroeder- the Beethoven afficionado, the loud, argumentative, know-all, selfish, crabby Lucy, the baseball star and academic dud Peppermint Patty complete the scene. These are all the people you ever knew as a child and it is this close resemblance to everything in the real world that has endeared "Peanuts" to a whole generation of people.
On the other hand there is Calvin, every parent's nightmare and every little boy's dream. Calvin is very much like Charlie at heart but the essential difference is because of the time the two cartoon characters were created. Charlie and co. were from another generation where children were still little angels going about their own business and settling their own squabbles(there is no adult main character in Peanuts at all!); he lives in an American society rather different from Calvin's. Calvin is thrust into the far more liberal and materialistic world of the eighties and imbibes all the american values. Through Calvin's opinions, Watterson tries to convey how ridiculous the "American dream" is. The birth of heavy metal, the violence on T.V, the philosophy of advertisements,the cold war, the flawed education system- Watterson takes potshots at all these issues through Calvin.
Calvin is vibrant, outrageous, disgusting, the eternal dreamer, the guy with the great ideas, the unfailing optimist, the cutthroat entrepreneur, the academic dud, the economic analyst and the solemn philosopher all rolled into one. Hobbes is the common sense part of Calvin. He is Calvin's sounding board,confidante,companion on his various adventures and at the same time he scares him, teases him,and taunts him. There is an air of maturity about Hobbes and his wry,sarcastic and witty statements are a perfect foil for Calvin's foolhardy ideas.
Watterson has also sprinkled in all the other "more normal" characters. There is Calvin's classmate Susie Derkins -the teacher's pet who is eternally worrying about her post-graduate studies.She is always at loggerheads with Calvin over snowballs, lunchboxes and class assignments; Then there is Calvin's Mom and Dad who keep quarrelling over why they didn't buy a daschund instead; Moe , the biggest jerk you ever knew ;and Miss Wormwood whose nicotine addiction grew after Calvin came along.
Bill Watterson himself cites "Peanuts" as one of his deepest influences. But the similarities between the two strips are still striking, to say the least. Calvin's lemonade and "great ideas" stalls remind us of lucy's psychiatric clinic. Snowballs and snowmen are a regular feature in both these strips, more so in C&H. Snoopy's escapades as the Red Baron and ErichEagle is probably the inspiration for the alter-egos of Calvin- stupendous Man , spaceman Spiff, the T-Rex, Tracer Bullet and several others. Perhaps, both of them seek to convey the sense of running away from the drudgery of everyday life. While Snoopy is embroiled in the post World War turmoil, Calvin is part of a world where values and ethics seem to have vanished and " it's all about the money, honey".
Though the two cartoon strips are penned in the same vein, both the cartooning styles are quite different. While Watterson seems to have a more elaborate drawing style and his writing is par excellence, Schulz is known for his simple, innocent cartoons with sparing strokes.
The characters of both these strips seem to have a more than normal intelligence, a very important requirement for the author to get the most subtle ideas across. It gives the cartoonist the advantage of a child's innocence while trying to convey ideas of deep significance. They are both cartoon strips written essentially for adults; it whips up the nostalgia and reminds you how it was to be a kid; itching to bomb your school, wanting to know what adult movies are all about, clamouring for that extra hour of TV, scoring a duck, dropping a catch and getting pushed around by all the other bullies, hoping your partner will complete your project, wanting to be a millionaire without making a shred of an effort.
These strips are a welcome change from the usual strips that hog the newspapers. For one, it is not about some superhuman guy with rippling muscles, the upholder of democracy, the harbinger of peace and prosperity out to rescue the hapless human race from the clutches of some mad scientist or extraterrestrial out to destroy the world with his laser gun and nuclear missiles. Nor is it about some run-of-the-mill husband-wife cartoon strips with the age-old jokes and stupid banter. Or about some handsome dude in college who does nothing but look good and let out snappy one-liners to the swooning ladies. These cartoon strips are about little children who are trying to make sense of the whole wide world and all its incongruities.