Full Circle Tangents on Calvin and Hobbes

I’m not a religious comic book reader. Let me clarify, I’m not talking about religious comic books, though I’m sure they exist, I’m just saying I’m hooked on one and read it religiously: Calvin and Hobbes. I appreciate author and illustrator Bill Watterson deeply and always have. His creativity, his art and his disdain for the money-making-machine that constantly threatened to corrupt his art. His willingness to walk away from the machine.

Last night I read from his “Sunday Pages Book” which included the author’s reflections on selected panels after having not looked back at them in five years. From his excerpt on a strip featuring a game of Calvinball he wrote “the idea was to create a a sense of escalating lunacy.” The strip made me laugh out loud so: Mission Emphatically Accomplished. His brilliance is timeless and that he’s stopped creating Calvin and Hobbes elicits a frowny emoji face on me in real life.

Tangent: I attend a lot of training opportunities to hone my craft and deepen my impact. At a recent NSA Colorado Chapter meeting our keynote speaker was both accomplished an incredibly talented. The speaker (name withheld so you hire me) made the comment “balance isn’t what you get, it’s what you do.” When Bill Watterson draws Calvin in a sled or wagon there is never more than the illusion of control. The panels are always chaotic and, of course, the dialogue never disappoints. Example:

I’ll mirror those insightful speaker’s words on balance with my own: “happiness isn’t what you get, it’s what you do.” Amidst the chaos and illusion of control each day what you choose to do with each day: who you love, where you work and where you live are incredibly important to your happiness. What are you doing today? Not sure where to start? Let me help with some humor, right now. And realize employee retention, productivity and alleviating isolation all link to happiness.

FULL CIRCLE: An escalating sense of lunacy. If you’ve never seen me on stage I often weave my unique and high-energy humor and even a cartoon or excerpt from Calvin and Hobbes in my talks and workshops and give Calvin and Hobbes books away. Reach out, I’d love to bring my mix of content with impact and my own brand of lunacy to your audience.

Anthony Poponi is a comic, improv artist, brain chemistry nerd and community-minded advocate and owner of Humore.us. He’s brings his love of connection and laughter to audiences as keynote, emcee, workshop host or moderator and his mission is to increase laughter and connectivity to combat the human health crises of isolation and disconnection.

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