Who'd'a' Thunk It?

It just occurs to me that my two favoritest comics of all time ever – Larson's The Far Side and Watterson's Calvin & Hobbes – were thinking women's comics. There were several illustrations [no pun intended] of this in Larson's Prehistory of the Far Side. Basically, you need a decent understanding of natural history to comprehend a fair proportion of TFS cartoons. C&H, on the other hand, was more humanist. But in both cases, there was more than just using facts or developments from the real world to get a cheap laugh, like in most editorial cartoons (not that this is bad; just that there can be more). I mean, Watterson's was named after Reformation-era philosophers!

There were lengthy sabbatical interruptions in both comics, and both were retired – in the same year (1995) – before they lost their magic (unlike, sadly, Garfield). Now both are capitalizing on this in a way that seems to reflect not just their appeal and success, but their erudition. How many comics could get away with a two-volume hardbound compendium that lists for $135? Not something Jeff Albertson (a.k.a. Comic Book Guy) would be likely to stock at The Android's Dungeon, even for Martin. I have no idea if this publication was successful or, if so, it had any influence on the production of a 1,500-page, 3–volume hardbound Calvin & Hobbes compendium that lists for $150.