Other characters include two marvelous one-eyed aliens, Galaxoid and Nebular, who buy the earth from Calvin for 50 leaves, but when it snows, claim they were overcharged, and demand that Calvin bring the planet up to code, and Calvin's musings on whether there is an Evil Santa, who gives to the bad girls and boys "the dangerous, annoying, and corrupting toys your parents won't allow", and best of all, when he decides to be a Suburban Post-Modernist artist, and claims that "art isn't about ideas, it's about style".

Hobbes is my favorite cartoon animal, drawn as a stuffed toy when seen from non-Calvin eyes, but a wise and playfull being in Calvin's magical world. There's a lot of love between them, and the hug on the back cover of this book says it all. Calvin and Hobbes will appeal to the rebel in us all, provide numerous laughs, and warm our hearts on cold days.

This book has got almost nothing but five star reviews here. So I feel that it's necessary to offer a dissenting opinion. I don't think this is Watterson's best work, and there are signs here that the quality of the strips was slipping. For one thing, while the Sunday strips are intricately drawn, the daily strips seem somewhat sparsely decorated. I think Watterson was putting so much time into drawing the Sunday strips that he had to just rush off his daily strips to meet his deadline. Second and most importantly, I think that the characters and the world of Calvin & Hobbes were beginning to lose their charm to some degree. Calvin was evolving from a hyperactive child to an obnoxious brat, and even though Calvin has always talked alot smarter than your average seven year old, I think some dialogue here sounds wierd coming from his mouth. Also, I think there's too much preaching from the soapbox here, and that sort of thing always gets on my nerves. I don't mean to give the impression that these faults are as bad as I'm making them sound. Most of them are hardly noticeable. I am simply trying to point out that there is a decline here from the glory days of the strip, and that's it's best that Watterson quit when he did before things got worse. He himself probably realized that he was losing his touch a little. I know that there are people who are fans of the strip and feel they have to come here and rave about any book with Calvin and Hobbes on the cover. (There is even one guy who posts the exact same review for every book in the series.) Some people think that's what being a fan is all about. It's the same sort of mentality that would make Star Trek fans go crazy over a Star Trek X even if the Enterprise was shaped like a cereal box. But you can be a fan and still have a discriminating taste. You can still separate the good from the bad. I think giving this book five stars does a disservice to better work like Snow Goons and The Authoritative C & H, which I think were the high points of the series. Anyway, this isn't a bad book. It's still vintage Calvin and Hobbes, and I think Watterson choose the perfect time to hang up his drawing board.

Calvin, one of his best known characters, is the trouble-making kid in the school. He is funny and imaginative and likes to make funa and games with his "real" pet friend Hobbes. Through the comics, you can see the relationship between a stuffed animal and a human.

In this comic though, Hobbes "comes to life" in Calvins eyes. The things that Calvin can sometimes get involved in is so hilarious and sometimes out of this world.

I guarantee that anyone that loves comics will fall in love with this one and should definitely buy this book to start their collection of classic comics.

All of Bill Waterson's comic books are very well done and very professional. His work is his life and it shows the time and consideration it took to make these characters come to life. Thank you Mr. Waterson for creating such a great comic and thatnk you people for reading my review!

Snow creations, sledding, pranks against Susie, Miss Wormwood and more creative ways to escape class, ... the fun in Calvin's world never ends!

Note that there are two series of C&H collections: individual wide-format albums, each covering an entire year of strips (will call it "regular"), and the vertical aspect ratio "treasury series" which covers selected comics from two regular C&H books. Note that C&H ran for a year in newspapers, so there's 10 regular books and 5 treasury books. Though the cartoons are slightly smaller in the treasury collection, each treasury book is far thicker and contains more strips than a regular book, and is furthermore less expensive, so treasury books are a real bargain. "It's a Magical World" belongs to the regular series and was published in 1996.

The best thing about Calvin and Hobbes is the way Calvin is wise well beyond his years but still has the many illusions of childhood. I think it's the way many of us would like to be. Wisdom without cynicism.

I totally love Calvin and Hobbes. Their adventures are the best and their friendship is real, even if Hobbes is not.

What strikes me funny about this strip, more than others, is the intelligent conversations of this otherwise typical six-year-old boy. Some of them I'll have to read a comic a few times over to get the conversation, much less the punchline.

Something ELSE that strikes me is how much of Calvin's ethical conversations about just about anything make sense almost half a decade later. I'm sure it's make sense 10-15 years from now, too. That's what helps make this cartoon so timeless & classic.

Its just too bad that Watterson had to end while at the top, It'd be much cooler if Calvin & Hobbes was still running today.

You should simply just drop anything you're doing & get the book now. You just can't miss out on Calvin's magical world.

For anyone who enjoyed Calvin and Hobbes on any level, "It's a Magical World" is a must buy along with the "10th Anniversary Special". And even though the last Calvin and Hobbes currently hangs on my wall, a clipping from the final day of the strip, for those that didn't go to such extreme measures, it's extremely emotional to see that final moment with our favorite little spiky-haired 6-year old and his stuffed tiger sledding off into their Magical World.