Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for February 04, 2020

The dame was only willing to 75 percent of what Tracer asked. How much was dame willing to pay?

What would “expenses” entail, detective Bullet?

50 greenbacks plus expenses is how much Calvin?

Obviously not getting paid enough for this.

Looks like the dame was bad news too for Tracer’s future.

Does Calvin knows what a hip flask is for?

He’s hallucinating again!! They HAVE to increase his meds!!!

His imagination is something so dearly missed in a teacher’s English assignment!

And once again I call attention to Watterson’s artistry. He brilliantly recreates, and slightly satirizes, the moody lighting effects of film noir. And look at the second panel! The hat is white, the smoke is white, but the face blends into the shadow.

To Calvin, a pop quiz does require a detective

What you will get is 50 lines a day…….

Yet, “the dame” is going to get her case done for free!

Fifty greenbacks a day. That’s an expression you don’t hear much any more. The price seems a little out of date too.

Calvin has got nothing on The Hardy Boys. They could show him how it’s done.

Calvin has to be absolutely TINY to be able to sit like that in those old school desks… we had those in my day (unlike kids today, who get tables and chairs), and they were hard… :-P

No, he doesn’t. But Tracer Bullet does. Calvin can’t fly a space ship. But Spaceman Spiff can.

Bill Watterson’s artwork and storytelling is amazing! Love the film noir look!

ALWAYS LOVED THIS!

Such…a…great…imagination!!!

But this dame carried a big stick that was somehow p[persuasive.

Proof that Calvin watches too much TV.

When I think back on all the crap I learned in grammar school (PS24 in JC), it’s a wonder I can think at all . . .

Tracer Bullet and Dixon Hill. Doze chumps seem like dey’d be pretty pally togeder.

I had a crush on my 6th grade teacher, Mrs. Salter. It was unrequited.

Looks like the after school special was replaced by the Maltese Falcon.

I like these where Calvin goes off into his Private Eye alter ego. Also some great drawings when he imagines space invaders.

Has Dad been reading him Raymond Chandler books at bedtime?

The noir detective dialog is pretty good here – too bad Watterson never produced a Tracer Bullet graphic novel

Calvin has definitely capture the feel of a “film noir” story in his imagination.

I wish I had the gift of ‘snappy patter’ but I don’t.

His last words before being hauled off to the office: “Whatever you say, doll face…”

I just have to wonder if he could get away with publishing this new today — a 6 year old with a cigarette in his mouth!

I have a feeling Calvin is headed for the “slammer” (detention).

I read Tracer Bullet’s dialogue in Max Payne’s voice.