Caitlin pointed out that the Complete Calvin and Hobbes is out:

The Complete Calvin and Hobbes, originally uploaded by tychay.

The design seem similar to the Complete Far Side which I once picked up at Costco. If that is the case, then the hardbound books should be very large in print with Sundays in color. My only complaints are that it is too large for a regular bookshelf, the books are too heavy to read in your lap, and it costs a boatload.

Since I got interested in Gary Larson’s Far Side in middle school and Bill Waterson’s Calvin and Hobbes in high school, it is fitting that this set should be released after the Far Side one.¹ Still, I wish it had come out before I had purchased the three anthologies and the last collection. Trust Universal Press Syndicate to figure out a way to squeeze more money out of me.

This is as good a place as any to relate an amusing story I heard in graduate school which is slightly different from the way it appeared in print in the Dilbert Future.

Scott Adams talked about writing affirmations. He often did this whenever he wanted something. He would write “I will set up a brokerage account. I will set up a brokerage account…” over and over again until he did and made money with a modest investment in a stock. He would write “I will get in the 94th percentile in the GMAT. I will get in the 94th percentile in the GMAT…” and sure enough got that percentile and got into business school. He would write “I will become a syndicated cartoonist. I will become a syndicated cartoonist…” and then Dilbert got picked up. Finally he wrote “I will make Dilbert the #1 cartoon. I will make Dilbert the #1 cartoon.”

And then Bill Watterson retired.