Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for March 20, 2022

Let’s go exploring…

Calvin’s mantra

The spaceman is about to be grounded.

This strip was featured in The Days are Just Packed, which was the first C&H collection we ever owned when I was a kid.

Fun fact: before I truly payed attention to the comic, I thought Miss Wormwood was Calvin’s grandmother, and Susie was Calvin’s sister.

Spiffs exploration is about to come to an abrupt halt.

Ah, the good old days when you went to neighborhood schools.

I forsee a mother ship coming to blast our fearless hero.

He’s a grounded kid

I’m beginning to have doubts about the prospect of an academic career for Calvin.

Watterson should draw for Godzilla because that would make an awesome kaiju.

I should have used this technique at some of the pointless meetings at work.

" Bloatoid captors "

Spaceman Spiff should’ve known that Bloatoids always win in the end.

Remember the week-long adventure when he got sent to the blackboard, imagined Spaceman Spiff about to be sacrificed to the alien god Nollij, and pulled out a hidden ray gun (actually a rubber band)?

So the teacher is subtracting 5 from 4? Does the answer appear to be 25, or is that just her finger and chalk and the answer is 2?

Miss Wormwood really deserves combat pay.

Too bad Calvin doesn’t use that imagination for something actually useful. Most kids simply fall asleep.

tut tut mum – whatabouttery does not work.

Space: the final frontier. Spaceman Spiff, his mission: to roam the heavens in man’s noble quest to investigate the wierdness of the universe! Ah, yes, as long as these wonderful comics repeat and replay, our childhoods will be remembered.

Always beware the vacant smile in panel one……..

What is the mandatory retirement age for boring teachers who cannot (or will not) spur on a unique child’s creative imagination??

I wonder if Watterson’s teachers were like Ms. Wormwood.

I guess I’m reliving my own school days—dull as dirt!!

I like how this page parodies the narration of old adventure comics by having the hero himself narrate as things go on. :) I didn’t catch that subtle parody when I was a kid.

Why does Calvin have to take the bus to school but lives close enough to run home?

Love the depictions of Miss Wormwood in Spiff’s imagination. I wonder if they were the inspiration for Jabba the Hutt?

I’m currently watching reruns of The Prisoner and they have reminded me of a time about two years ago when I compared a Calvin and Hobbes story arc to The Prisoner.

Calvin had just invented his duplicator out of a cardboard box and created a duplicate of himself. While he was being told off by Mom for something his duplicate had done, the duplicate was creating copies of himself so that there were five copies of Calvin. “Meet your duplicates – numbers two to six.”

I quoted from the opening titles of The Prisoner:

“Who are you?”

“The new Number Two.”

“Who is Number One?”

“You are Number Six”

Someone replied that the line can be interpreted as “You are, Number Six” and someone else told me that a remake of The Prisoner had been made but quickly cancelled. I replied that some episodes of the original series had also been cancelled. I have been reading about the original series again and have seen that there were originally going to be two seasons of thirteen episodes but the second season was cancelled while the first season was still being produced and four of the planned episodes were added to the first season to make one season of seventeen episodes.

RUN

At least he wasn’t in his underwear!

Calvin definitely keeps the class awake! Mrs. Wormwood should thank him for that.

If the other kids had any imagination they would have taken off after Calvin.

Hard to top the Spaceman Spiff stories.

Ah, the dream of every kid sitting in a boring class, looking outside, as summer approaches.

The hero of most 6-10-year-old boys.

I think someone escaped from class back in 1st grade after bathroom break. He was back in class the next day.

Love it!

“. . . Ol’ buddy, Let’s go exploring . . . " Same words as the very last C&H strip. :-(

Calvin must live in a strange location. He takes the bus to school but lives close enough to the school to be able to get home when he runs away. I’m guessing the school is across a couple farmers fields and he is only a bus rider because of where the streets are instead of walking as the crow flies across the fields as that wasn’t allowed as a safe route to get to school.

I think Watterson had a lot of fun writing the dialog (or monolog) for Spaceman Spiff.

He does a good job with the “technobabble” too.

I just love the thought that goes into the “dialog”. I can just imagine Bill noodling around “in a split second”, nope that’s not it. “in a fraction…” nope. “in a moment” nope. ‘In a micromoment" Bingo. That’s it. I’ve always been in awe of the creative process.

I’m with Calvin on this. School should be limited to a few hours per day, in the morning. Kids shouldn’t have to spend all day sitting indoors. Nor should adults for that matter! I clearly remember staring longingly out the windows as the teacher droned on. I resent having been deprived of nature, fresh air and more creative pursuits all those years while instead sitting in an ugly brick building where I was under authoritarian rule forced to focus on how to make enough money so someday I could buy a bunch of worthless junk. Luckily, doodling was allowed.

Calvin’s gonna get spaced out.

Alas, the evil Gznarak guards were sent out in force, re-captured Spiff after a wild pursuit, and dragged him back to the intergalactic prison.

Our Fearless Hero is about to get grounded for ditching class, I would think.

Subject to the situation, maybe we all have a little Spaceman Spiff in us.

That kid needs some serious meds

I never slipped out of school but, I recall living on base (CFB North Bay) and we had a cold war attack exercise. I did not make it home because I had to walk through a park to get there and the swings called to me. within 10 minutes an SP (Station police) vehicle rolled up and the Sergeant got out and sauntered over to the swings and asked why I was there. My folks tell the story because I do not recall my reply but Sergeant Naismith’s report said “The swings were more fun than spending an hour in the basement”. You see just 10 miles away was a US BOMARC base with missiles and alleged nuke tips and IF the Russians were attacking, the base would be cinders according to my dad who was a realist. Waiting to die on the swings or under a table in the basement? Easy call. I was 9.

I used to imagine doing that… of course I was the teacher, but…

It’s good to have a waiting spacecraft, always in standby mode. :)

Mom is shocked like this is the first time Calvin has run off. But it won’t be the last.

The endless frontiers begin at home…

I’ve said it before but it’s worth saying again: it’s obvious that Mr Watterson loves to draw. And with fabulous effect.

It’s kind of like the May 21-26, 1990 “Calvin ditches school” story arc condensed into the new Sunday strip format! Except at least Calvin has a little fun with Hobbes before he’s eventually caught.

How can his mother be surprised by anything Calvin does? I would expect a practiced eyeroll by now.

Calvin must live REALLY close to his school if he can run home by the time they call his parents

These are the trips of Spaceman Spiff. His mission: to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no one has gone before! With thanks and apologies to Gene Roddenberry.

“Bloatoid captors”! That is hysterically perfect!

So if we subtract five gross bugs from the turbo hyper-thrust drive…

Our fearful antihero really needs to learn the concept of stealth.

the Sunday comics after his sabbatical were breathtaking…

This is to my knowledge the first time that Hobbes has appeared in sentient form along with a human being other than Calvin. So that means that Hobbes is a magical being and not a figment of Calvin’s highly over-active imagination? Or maybe Watterson slipped up on that installment.

Looks like Calvin literally dissociates from mild manner Calvin in panel one to warped, mischievous Calvin in panel two. What precipitated the change? Hormones in the air, maybe?

I di that once. It did not end well for me. I hated school, but loved College.

Those were the day!

The first Calvin and Hobbes I saw was when dad had to leave Calvin in the car to mail a letter. Calvin and Hobbes hide under a blanket and pretend to run away. Dad hears the giggling and says his problems are over. He will drive home and tell the wife he lost the boy. Surprise! A HA! Don’t say another. Take me home!! Wait until mom hears about this!"

“Bloatoid” :)