Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for December 29, 2017

Hey LE, Watterson ripped off your custom comic from yesterday!

Hobbes, you sneaky devil!

Well Calvin, your snow fort didn’t repel that attack!

Calvin is probably blaming Susie for the sneak attack—-which may be even more humiliating!

Benedict Arnold Hobbes

Interesting. The stance of the strip is that Hobbes is sheerly Calvin’s imagination. Yet here he has a life and thoughts of his own when Calvin’s out of the picture. Explain that?

Either Hobbes is guilty or he just farted.

That was quick, Hobbes, but not nice and not honest!!

I’m usually out and about but today I just wanted to stay in.

I think Hobbes is sneaky.

xxx

@Filops Watterson is an artist. Whether he would agree or not (I think he would), he follows Keats’ “negative capability”. Essentially, the “reality” of Calvin and Hobbes requires us to live in a state in which confusion regarding Hobbes’ “reality” remains part of the comic tension. We have to regard the strip without the ability to resolve the question. That doesn’t impede enjoyment; it actually enhances it.

QUESTION: Wasn’t it Bill Watterson who said he’d never sell his characters for commercialism, mugs, t-shirts, etc., etc.?