Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for October 09, 2019

Oh Lordy, he’s going to burn down the town!

That’s a doozy of a frisbee.

this looks good……

Palomar Hale is a reflective mirror telescope and not a magnifying optical lens scope. They don’t work like that.

I remember when it was the world’s largest telescope. It was the world’s largest from 1949 to 1976.

You forgot to do your evil laugh, Stupendous man.

It’s going to be a hot time in the town tonight.

This will reflect badly on Cal’s school record!

Some marvellous comic book-style narration from Bill Watterson here. The dime novel/pulp magazine/film noir narration in Calvin’s Tracer Bullet fantasies are very good too. I think that the first of the two Tracer Bullet story arcs is due for a reprint early next year. Watterson created Tracer Bullet for a one-off strip which was also part of a story arc in 1987 and used him in just two story arcs. He later explained that he wasn’t as big a fan of private eyes as he was of space heroes and superheroes. Also the film noir style pictures for Tracer Bullet used up a lot of ink.

LOOK OUT ANTS!!!

It’s nice that Stupendous Man is careful when screwing off giant lenses

Calvin grows up to draw comics art… doesn’t he?

Lens. Probably someone’s glasses. Can’t bring him to school (the initial objective of SM).

Being only 16+ feet in diameter, I doubt it would accomplish much in any case.

Stupendous Man doesn’t know that because he reads only comic books.

Good luck, Stupendous Man; all of the other kids are rooting for you!

Burning down the house….err school!Schools out for ever.

Calvin’s imagination never seems to not amaze me.

Makes sense… Mom must have reminded Calvin that he needs to focus.

I have a bad feeling about looking like an ant and ‘stupendous man’ having that thing.

He’s only 6, admittedly even I didn’t learn that reflector telescopes were a thing until I was in the 3rd or 4th grade at least, and I was REALLY interested in astronomy as a kid.

♪ The sun will come out tomorrow… ♪

Is Stupendous Man up to mischief?

This is why it doesn’t have a lens.

Stupendous Man is Calvin’s alter ego so he would be a mischievous and anti-authority superhero.

A mirror from a reflector telescope will focus the sun’s rays just like a lens, if you position it right…

There could be a comic in which a relatively typical superhero faces a villain much like Stupendous Man, a child with a poor perspective on what constitutes heroism.

There go his dad’s binoculars, again??

The fact that Palomar actually is a reflective telescope is rich. Nice “research.” laughter