Recent Comments

1. about 13 hours ago on Calvin and Hobbes

   But not Calvin’s Dad.

2. about 13 hours ago on Nancy Classics

   I was born in December 1966. I certainly remember the Covid Pandemic in 2020. I did have a mild case of Covid in 2022.

3. about 13 hours ago on Wizard of Id

   I have read today’s Wizard of Id Classics. I have no strong preference for either cartoon today. As I have often said – and say on my Go Comics profile – my favourite strips are Calvin and Hobbes and Andy Capp with The Wizard of Id and Red and Rover competing with each other for third place.

4. about 13 hours ago on Calvin and Hobbes

   Bill Watterson has said, “At the time, it was unusual for a strip to focus on the exasperating aspects of children without a lot of hugging to alleviate it.” Watterson relied largely on memories of his own relationship with his Dad. He explains in The Calvin And Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book, “My Dad and I still have this kind of relationship. I like to think I’m easier on my Mom now.”

5. about 13 hours ago on Calvin and Hobbes

   Most people do not but you keep saying that I haven’t proved Hobbes is alive despite all the times when I remind you that I am not trying to prove Hobbes is alive but explaining why I believe him to be alive. I keep repeating myself because YOU keep repeating YOURSELF.

6. about 13 hours ago on Calvin and Hobbes

   “I knew you were going to say that.” In other words, you deliberately provoked me into saying it by putting words that I have never said in quotation marks.

   Of course, Hobbes being alive and speaking to us is proof of nothing. I consider it to be evidence but not proof. It was seeing Hobbes as alive when Calvin wasn’t with him which first led me to question my own assumption that Hobbes was meant to be part of Calvin’s imagination.

7. about 13 hours ago on Calvin and Hobbes

   As I mentioned before, I had been looking out for strips showing Hobbes away from Calvin for over a year before this strip first appeared. I wrongly thought that Hobbes was depicted as a doll in the first strip of this arc so I went back to thinking of Hobbes as the doll that I had wrongly assumed that he was meant to be when I started reading the strip.

   As I often explain, I started reading the strip in autumn 1987 and wrongly assumed that Hobbes was meant to be a doll. I started to question this in May 1988 when I read “Something Under The Bed Is Drooling” and noticed that two strips showed Hobbes was alive – and speaking to us – when on his own. This story arc set me back to thinking that Hobbes really was meant to be a doll. I finally learned that Watterson did not think of Hobbes as really a doll in April 1992 when I read The Encyclopaedia of Cartoon Animals which included the quote I have often given. “I suspect he’s more real than any kid could make up.” The Encyclopaedia of Cartoon Animals does not go into details of where Watterson’s quote came from. It certainly confirmed that Watterson did not think of Hobbes as part of Calvin’s imagination.

   You have informed me that Watterson was saying that he did not think any kid would imagine someone who argued with him. The interviewer told Watterson that many kids do, in fact, argue with toys and with imaginary friends. You then quoted Watterson as saying, “Well, I hope the relationship between Calvin and Hobbes transcends normal fantasy.” This does NOT mean that he was agreeing it was a fantasy but that he was still hoping their relationship was more complex than any kid would imagine. In The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book, he stated again that he did not see Hobbes as part of Calvin’s imagination.

8. about 13 hours ago on Calvin and Hobbes

   No, not often. However, we did see his friendly side towards Susie and his vulnerable side in the first week of the Baseball arc before it changed to this arc. We also see Calvin’s sensitive, caring side in the Baby Raccoon arc and in the Environmental strips among others. There was also an early story arc in which Mom was ill and Calvin tried to look after her. In one of those strips, he said, “It’s hard to be a Mom to a Mom.” That was one of my favourite examples of Calvin showing maturity and sensitivity.

9. about 13 hours ago on Calvin and Hobbes

   Watterson explains in The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book, “I do not want the matter of Hobbes’ reality to be settled by stuffed dolls of Hobbes.” Those dolls would NOT settle the matter. They merchandised toy versions of the fictional toys created for Toy Story such as Buzz Lightyear, Woody and Jessie. It does not stop us accepting the characters in these movies as genuine characters.

   I have some bootleg Calvin and Hobbes merchandise at home. Some Calvin and Hobbes coasters with illustrations from the collection books including the front cover of The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book.

10. about 13 hours ago on Calvin and Hobbes

    Yes, very interesting. However, as you said in reply to my earlier comment about the first time that I saw that Hobbes is alive when Calvin isn’t with him, it does not prove anything.