Hallo,
ich bin sehr grosser Fan von Calvin & Hobbes Comics.
Kann mir jemand verraten oder weiss jemand ob es für
diesen Comic Merchandise-Artikel gibt ?
Gruß Marc
Hallo Marc,
nein, es gibt keine Merchandise-Artikel von „Calvin & Hobbes“, weil der Macher, Bill Watterson, dagegen ist. Aber lass ihn selbst erklären:
—schnipp—
Comic strips have been licensed from the beginning, but today the merchandising of popular cartoon characters is more profitable than ever. Derivative products - dolls, T-shirts, TV specials, and so on - can turn the right strip into a gold mine. Everyone is looking for the next Snoopy or Garfield, and Calvin and Hobbes were imagined to be the perfect candidates. The more I thought about licensing, however, the less I like it. I spent nearly five years fighting my syndicate’s pressure to merchandise my creation.
In an age of shameless commercialism, my objections to licensing are not widely shared. Many cartoonists view the comic strip as a commercial product itself, so they regard licensing as a natural extension of their work. As most people ask, what’s wrong with the comic strip characters appearing on calendars and coffee mugs? If people want to buy the stuff, why not give it to them?
I have several problems with licensing. First of all, I believe licensing usually cheapens the original creation. When cartoon characters appear on countless products, the public inevitably grows bored and irritated with them, and the appeal and value of the original work are diminished. Nothing dulls the edge of a new and clever cartoon like saturing the market with it.
Second, commercial products rarely respect how a comic strip works. A wordy, multiple-panel strip with extended conversation and developed personalities does not condense to a coffee mug illustration without great violation to the strip’s spirit. The subtleties of a multi-dimensional strip are sacrificed for the one-dimensional needs of the product. The world of a comic strip ought to be a special place with its own logic and life. I don’t want some animation studio giving Hobbes an actor’s voice, and I don’t want some greeting card company using Calvin to wish people a happy anniversary, and I don’t want the issue of Hobbes’s reality settled by a doll manufacturer. When everything fun and magical is turned into something for sale, the strip’s world is diminshed. ‚Calvin and Hobbes‘ was designed to be a comic strip and that’s all I want it to be. It’s the one place where everything works the way I intend it to.
Third, as a practical matter, licensing requires a staff of assistants to do the work. The cartoonist must become a factory foreman, delegating responsibilities and overseeing the production of things he does not create. Some cartoonists don’t mind this, but I went into cartooning to draw cartoons, not to run a corporate empire. I take great pride in the fact that I write every word, draw every line, color every Sunday strip, and paint every book illustration myself. My strip is a low-tech, one-man operation, and I like it that way. I believe it’s the only way to preserve the craft and to keep the strip personal. Despite what some cartoonists say, approving someone else’s work is not the same as doing it yourself.
Beyond all this, however, lies a deeper issue: the corruption of a strip’s integrity. All strips are supposed to be entertaining, but some strips have a point of view and a serious purpose behind the jokes. When the cartoonist is trying to talk honestly and seriously about life, then I believe he has a responsibility to think beyond satisfying the market’s every whim and desire. Cartoonists who think they can be taken seriously as artists while using the strip’s protagonists to sell boxer shorts are deluding themselves.
The world of a comic strip is much more fragile than most people realize or will admit. Believable characters are hard to develop and easy to destroy. When a cartoonist licenses his characters, his voice is co-opted by the business concerns of toy makers, television producers, and advertisers. The cartoonist’s job is no longer to be an original thinker; his job is to keep his characters profitable. The characters become „celebrities“, endorsing companies and products, avoiding controversy, and saying whatever someone will pay the to say. At that point, the strip has no soul. With its integrity gone, a strip loses its deeper significance.
My strip is about private realities, the magic of imagination, and the specialness of certain friendships. Who would believe in the innocence of a little kid and his tiger if they cashed in on their popularity to sell overpriced knickknacks that nobody needs? Who would trust the honesty of the strip’s observations when the characters are hired out as advertising hucksters? If I were to undermine my own characters like this, I would have taken the rare privilege of being paid to express my own ideas and given it up to be an ordinary salesman and a hired illustrator. I would have sold out my own creation. I have no use for that kind of cartooning. […]
Auszug kopiert von der Website
http://www.reemst.com/calvin_and_hobbes/author/licen…,
die den Textauszug wiederum aus einem Calvin & Hobbes-Buch hat
(der Text geht noch weiter dort)
—schnapp—
Viele Grüße
Gitte
Eine schöne Quelle. Man muss es Watterson auch hoch anrechnen, dass er nach all den Jahren aufgehört hat - einfach, weil er alles gesagt hat, was es zu sagen gibt. Vielleicht sollten sich die Macher von Garfield und Co auch etwas derartiges überlegen…
Das ist wirklich wahr. Auch wenn es schade ist, dass es keine neuen Streiche und Lebensgeschichten mehr geben wird, gehört eine Menge dazu, einfach aufzuhören. Das sind diese Charaktere, die leider am aussterben sind.
Eine schöne Quelle. Man muss es Watterson auch hoch anrechnen,
dass er nach all den Jahren aufgehört hat - einfach, weil er
alles gesagt hat, was es zu sagen gibt. Vielleicht sollten
sich die Macher von Garfield und Co auch etwas derartiges
überlegen…
…allerdings habe ich von meinem USA Urlaub vor ein paar Jahren
2 T-Shirts von Calvin und einen Autoaufkleber mit Hobbes
mitgebracht. Also, es gibt bestimmt Merchandise, aber keinen
offiziellen und daher schwer zu finden. Vielleicht doch mal bei
ebay gucken.
[Bei dieser Antwort wurde das Vollzitat nachträglich automatisiert entfernt]