ichthyoid

Calvin and Hobbes will always hold a special place in my heart. It was one of the few comic strips that I read as a kid, among Garfield, Peanuts, Family Circus, and The Far Side. But as I grew older, it became the only one. It was hilariously entertaining when I was a child, but as an adult, much of the content that I didn't understand before I now find extremely enlightening and meaningful.

For those who don't know, Calvin and Hobbes, written and drawn by the unrivaled Bill Watterson, was a daily comic strip that ran in newspapers in the United States (and eventually worldwide) from November 18, 1985 to December 31, 1995. It centered around a 6-year-old boy named Calvin and his stuffed tiger toy Hobbes, who Calvin imagined as a real, anthropomorphic tiger. The strip often focused on the daily antics of Calvin, which ranged from normal activities like going to school to building massive imaginative snow sculpture worlds. The rest of the cast of the strip, which included his parents, a female friend Susie Derkins, and his school teacher Miss Wormwood, among others.

I think the brilliance of Calvin and Hobbes lies in Watterson's ability to walk the line between humor and philosophy while viewing the world through Calvin's child-like innocence. As said above, the strip almost always followed the actions and adventures of Calvin as he went about his day, but often, there would be specks of musings and commentary on culture, politics, and even metaphysical ideas thrown in for good measure.

In doing so, Watterson created a timeless masterpiece that, despite being nearly 35-years-old presently, with all the evolution our society has gone through technologically, still speaks to our modern sensibilities and beliefs.

And so, today, and probably in subsequent posts in the future, I want to take a look at some of these strips, and show just how and why it is so great.

The First Strip

Of course, no introductory showcase of Calvin and Hobbes would do without its very first strip. This is the very first time Calvin (and Hobbes) are introduced to the world. For me, this wasn't the first one I ever read (that honor belongs to the Lazy Sunday Book). But for some reason, it's always the earliest one I can remember.

It's a great introduction. It shows us who Calvin is, what his relationship is like with his parental authority (I think almost all adults with children can empathize with the look on the Dad's face in panel three), and gives us hint as to both Calvin's and Hobbes' respective personalities. Calvin is a creative, go-do-it kind of kid while Hobbes is a self-aware, cutely cynical animal.

Ironically, Watterson later said that, while at the time he thought he needed to properly introduce the characters like this, he realized later that it was unnecessary to do so (The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book, pg. 29).

True Friendship

Calvin and Hobbes' relationship in a nutshell. And, perhaps, the kind of friendship we all desire. I think we all have these crazy, weird wonderments. And to have a companion who would continue to explore those thoughts with us, rather than criticize them, is one of life's greatest gifts.

While Calvin had lots of philosophically mature musings, he was still a kid. And Hobbes was his imaginary tiger companion. An “earnest discussion of ideas” thus includes anything and everything. In all the world.

Even if they were as stupid as whether bugs liked to barf.

Creativity vs. Reality

The series doesn't go into much detail about Calvin's parents, but here and there, we get tidbits. This one, for example, reinforces how Calvin's dad is a patent attorney.

There are a few ideas here. First, of course, is Calvin's creativity and inventiveness clashing with reality. I think a lot of us creatives have this stumbling block, where we know what we want to do, and we have an end goal in mind, but we often don't know how to make it happen. The second idea is an astute observation on creativity itself — that people often make things that are new, but ultimately are useless, or we can't figure out what use they will have to the wider world.

Kind of like a lot of blockchain projects.

If I remember correctly, Watterson didn't have a kid until after the strip's end, but the commentary offered here on parenting is still timelessly hilarious as well.

Words Have No Meaning

I used to be a pretty big grammar-Nazi when I was younger. Since I aspired to be a writer, for some reason, I decided that vocabulary, grammar, and syntax were the most important things to learn. This may be due to the educational system I grew up in, where formality was pushed in our English classes rather than creativity.

Then, I read this strip. And I no longer care about verbiage.

Communication is often difficult when people don't ascribe the same meaning to the same word. My opinion is that this is probably the root of most dividing issues today, rather than the surface topics being pushed in mainstream media.

Calvin's thoughts often bounced between eclectic childishness and mature rationality. Here, in the 3rd panel, he seems to resemble teenage rebelliousness quite acutely.

Everyone is a Sellout

Calvin and Hobbes riding in a small red wagon while talking about philosophy and society was an oft-used motif in the strip. There were times when they were massive panels that really showed off Watterson's artistic ability. Then, there were these short-but-sweet ones.

This was one of the first strips I read as a kid that made me realize I was actually reading social commentary in comic strip form. It was then that Calvin and Hobbes went from pure entertainment to thought-provoking looks at life.

And it was this particular strip that made me want to do a blog post on this wonderful comic. Hobbes' final comment still rings true for me even now, and Calvin's is an amazing critique of the social and business ethics we find globally today.

No, You're Right. Now Go Away.

I gotta admit:

I've done this to so many kids so many times.

As I've gotten older, I've become less and less keen to argue a point, even if I agree with it. Most of the time, it's because I'm preoccupied with something, just as Calvin's dad is here. But at others, it's because, as an introvert, I just want to BE LEFT ALONE.

That's probably why I don't update my Twitter or Instagram much.

Susie Derkins

Calvin had a pretty decent crush on Susie Derkins. And like any 6-year-old (including myself) he acts this out by having extraordinarily funny, though horrible, behavior. I can sympathize, since I remember several instances as a child when I did something really weird that no sane adult would do.

Like pull a girl's ponytail while chasing her in a playground. After which she dropped to the ground and screamed bloody-murder until her mother came to comfort her. How weird the way children show their affection.

Calvin also had very little appreciation for his mom's cooking. So much so that there were many strips where he battled with his homemade lunch in the school cafeteria. Thus, this strip.

And despite her annoyance of him, Susie still often sat with him at lunch. I think they were made for each other.

Santa: Just How Benevolent is He?

Each year, as the winter season and Christmas time rolled around, we would be treated to Calvin's struggles to behave well in order to get presents. It was pretty great, seeing his titanic battle with his own lack of self-control, as his often misguided justifications of these behaviors in the hopes that he would still get good gifts.

But, of course, he would often get them anyways, since his parents were pretty decent folk.

Maybe it's because I'm slow, but recently, I've realized how these strips are a great metaphor for people's ideas about God, morality, and spirituality. Even if one espouses no particular belief in God, he or she will often go about life as if God exists—meaning trying to do good in both public and private. And then, of course, when we fail or make a mistake, we'll try to rationalize it, just as Calvin does here, as if doing such would have karmic consequences.

This strip is deep.

KaZAM!

This is one of my absolute favorites.

First, there's the artistry. I love how the panel slowly evolves as Calvin's imagination takes over, until we reach the final panel, and it's just this breathtaking, cinematic view of some foreign planet's canyons and mesas. At least that's how I see it.

And then there's Watterson's use of the differently sized panels. It starts as a typical four-panel strip, then minimizes to Calvin walking up the stairs (an action that elongates the time as our eyes make their way through it), and then ending at the spectacular finale.

And finally of course, there's that ache of sympathy we get for Calvin, as (I believe, at least) all of us have had that experience where our creativity was shunned or shut down by others, and had to experience the loneliness of being in our own little world.

Certainly, there can be an argument made for Calvin fighting for attention here. But the majesty of imagination is ultimately what we're left with in the end.

Scientific Progress Goes “Boink”?

There were often stories that Watterson would write across multiple strips, and some of them went on for weeks. This one, which started on January 08, 1990, depicts Calvin and one of his imaginative inventions: the duplicator. In the story, Calvin decides to duplicate himself. The idea was to get the duplicate to do his homework for him so that he and he could go outside and play. This, of course, backfires, as Calvin's duplicate is just as “well-behaved” as he is. The duplicate refuses to work, and proceeds to make even more copies. These copies then go around the house, driving his mom absolutely bonkers.

It's one of the most hilarious adventures in the strip, and for me in particular, since I often wished as a child that I could duplicate myself to get stuff done.

Actually, I still wish that today.

Let's Go Exploring

And, of course, no collection of Calvin and Hobbes could be without its final strip.

I'm not an artist. But, I've come to deeply appreciate Watterson's technical expertise, and it shows in this strip. The genius use of negative space and shading in the background brings out our titular, colored characters so well. The ordering of the panels gives such an amazing rhythm to our reading pace, and conveys the final message with poignancy. And I think it's difficult to overstate just how well the entire thing imparts the nostalgia, simplicity, and beauty of childhood.

I actually have this as one of my rotating desktop wallpapers for my laptop notebook. It's such a well-done strip, and it always inspires me to keep creating when I read it.

How to Read Yourself!

Since I love Calvin and Hobbes, there's nothing more I'd like to do than help others get to know this wonderful comic for themselves. As linked above, you can still read this classic at GoComics. You can even read them in chronological order, since they have the very first strip starting all the way back from November 18, 1985.

And, of course, you can buy the book collections at both local book stores and on Amazon! I can say, since I have the books physically, that there really is nothing like opening a Calvin and Hobbes book and just reading through it, laughing at the kid's misadventures as well as ponder on some of the more thought-provoking ideas Bill Watterson put in the strip.

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