Calvin and Hobbes is a comic strip written and
illustrated by Bill Watterson, following the
humorous antics of Calvin, an imaginative
six-year-old boy, and Hobbes, his energetic and
sardonic—albeit stuffed—tiger. Syndicated from
November 18, 1985 until December 31, 1995, at its
height Calvin and Hobbes was carried by over 2,400
newspapers worldwide. To date, more than 30
million copies of 17 Calvin and Hobbes books have
been printed.

The strip is vaguely set in the contemporary
midwestern United States, in the outskirts of
suburbia (West, 1989). Calvin and Hobbes
themselves appear in most of the strips, though
several have focused instead upon Calvin's
family. The broad themes of the strip deal with
Calvin's flights of fantasy, his friendship with
Hobbes, his misadventures, his views on a diverse
range of political and cultural issues and his
relationships and interactions with his parents,
classmates, educators, and other members of
society. The dual nature of Hobbes is also a
recurring motif; Calvin sees him as alive, while
other characters see him as a stuffed animal, a
point discussed more fully below. Unlike Garry
Trudeau's Doonesbury, the series does not mention
specific political figures, but it does examine
broad issues like environmentalism and the flaws
of opinion polls (Astor, 1989).

Due to Watterson's strong anti-merchandising
sentiments (Dean, 1987) and his reluctance to
return to the spotlight, almost no legitimate
Calvin and Hobbes licensed material exists outside
of the book collections but collectors do collect
items that were offically approved for marketing
purposes[1]. One notable exception to the
licensing embargo was the publication of two
16-month wall calendars for 1988–1989 and
1989–1990.

However, the strip's immense popularity has led
to the appearance of various "bootleg" items,
including T-shirts, keychains, bumper stickers,
and window decals, often including obscene
language or references wholly uncharacteristic of
the whimsical spirit of Watterson's work.

 
Calvin and Hobbes took many wagon rides over the
years — this one showed up on the cover of the
first collection of comic strips.


History
Calvin and Hobbes was first conceived when
Watterson, having worked in an advertising job he
detested, began devoting his spare time to
cartooning, his true love. He explored various
strip ideas but all were rejected by the
syndicates to which he sent them. However, he did
receive a positive response on one strip, which
featured a side character (the main character's
little brother) who had a stuffed tiger. Told that
these characters were the strongest, Watterson
began a new strip centered around them. The
syndicate (United Features Syndicate) which gave
him this advice actually rejected the new strip,
and Watterson endured a few more rejections before
Universal Press Syndicate decided to take it
(Christie, 1987; Dean, 1987).

The first strip was published on November 18, 1985
and the series quickly became a hit. Within a year
of syndication, the strip was published in roughly
250 newspapers. By April 1, 1987, only sixteen
months after the strip began, Watterson and his
work were featured in an article by the Los
Angeles Times, one of the nation's major
newspapers (Dean, 1987). Calvin and Hobbes twice
earned Watterson the Outstanding Cartoonist of the
Year award from the National Cartoonists Society,
in 1986 and 1988. Before long, the strip was in
wide circulation outside the United States; for
more information on publication in various
countries and languages, see Calvin and Hobbes in
translation.

Watterson took two extended breaks from writing
new strips—from May 1991 to February 1992, and
from April through December of 1994.

In 1995 Watterson sent a letter via his syndicate
to all editors whose newspapers carried his strip.
It contained the following:

"I will be stopping Calvin and Hobbes at the end
of the year. This was not a recent or an easy
decision, and I leave with some sadness. My
interests have shifted however, and I believe
I've done what I can do within the constraints of
daily deadlines and small panels. I am eager to
work at a more thoughtful pace, with fewer
artistic compromises. I have not yet decided on
future projects, but my relationship with
Universal Press Syndicate will continue. 
That so many newspapers would carry Calvin and
Hobbes is an honor I'll long be proud of, and
I've greatly appreciated your support and
indulgence over the last decade. Drawing this
comic strip has been a privilege and a pleasure,
and I thank you for giving me the opportunity." 
The last strip ran on Sunday, December 31, 1995.
It depicted Calvin and Hobbes outside in
freshly-fallen snow, reveling in the wonder and
excitement of the winter scene. "It's a magical
world, Hobbes ol' buddy!" Calvin exclaims in the
last panel. "Let's go exploring!"


Syndication and Watterson's artistic standards
From the outset, Watterson found himself at odds
with the syndicate, which urged him to begin
merchandising the characters and touring the
country to promote the first collections of comic
strips. Watterson refused. To him, the integrity
of the strip and its artist would be undermined by
commercialization, which he saw as a major
negative influence in the world of cartoon art
(West, 1989).

Watterson also grew increasingly frustrated by the
gradual shrinking of available space for comics in
the newspapers. He lamented that without space for
anything more than simple dialogue or spare
artwork, comics as an art form were becoming
dilute, bland, and unoriginal (Astor, 1988; West,
1989). Watterson strove for a full-page version of
his strip (as opposed to the few cells allocated
for most strips). He longed for the artistic
freedom allotted classic strips such as Little
Nemo and Krazy Kat, and he gave a sample of what
could be accomplished with such liberty in the
opening pages of the Sunday strip compilation, The
Calvin and Hobbes Lazy Sunday Book.

During Watterson's first sabbatical from the
strip, Universal Press Syndicate continued to
charge newspapers full price to re-run old Calvin
and Hobbes strips. Few editors approved of the
move, but the strip was so popular that they had
little choice but to continue to run it for fear
that competing newspapers might pick it up and
draw its fans away. Then, upon Watterson's
return, Universal Press announced that Watterson
had demanded that his Sunday strip be guaranteed
half of a newspaper or tabloid page for its space
allotment. Many editors and even a few
cartoonists, such as Bil Keane (The Family
Circus), criticized him for what they perceived as
arrogance and an unwillingness to abide by the
normal practices of the cartoon business—a charge
that Watterson ignored. Watterson had negotiated
the deal to allow himself more creative freedom in
the Sunday comics. Prior to the switch, he had to
have a certain number of panels with little
freedom as to layout (due to the fact that in
different newspapers the strip would appear at a
different width); afterwards, he was free to go
with whatever graphic layout he wanted, however
unorthodox. His frustration with the standard
space division requirements is evident in strips
before the change; for example, a 1988 Sunday
strip published before the deal is one large
panel, but with all the action and dialogue in the
bottom part of the panel so editors could crop the
top part if they wanted to fit the strip into a
smaller space. Watterson's explanation for the
switch:

I took a sabbatical after resolving a long and
emotionally draining fight to prevent Calvin and
Hobbes from being merchandised. Looking for a way
to rekindle my enthusiasm for the duration of a
new contract term, I proposed a redesigned Sunday
format that would permit more panel flexibility.
To my surprise and delight, Universal responded
with an offer to market the strip as an
unbreakable half page (more space than I'd dared
to ask for), despite the expected resistance of
editors. 
To this day, my syndicate assures me that some
editors liked the new format, appreciated the
difference, and were happy to run the larger
strip, but I think it's fair to say that this was
not the most common reaction. The syndicate had
warned me to prepare for numerous cancellations of
the Sunday feature, but after a few weeks of
dealing with howling, purple-faced editors, the
syndicate suggested that papers could reduce the
strip to the size tabloid newspapers used for
their smaller sheets of paper. … I focused on the
bright side: I had complete freedom of design and
there were virtually no cancellations. 
For all the yelling and screaming by outraged
editors, I remain convinced that the larger Sunday
strip gave newspapers a better product and made
the comics section more fun for readers. Comics
are a visual medium. A strip with a lot of drawing
can be exciting and add some variety. Proud as I
am that I was able to draw a larger strip, I
don't expect to see it happen again any time
soon. In the newspaper business, space is money,
and I suspect most editors would still say that
the difference is not worth the cost. Sadly, the
situation is a vicious circle: because there's no
room for better artwork, the comics are simply
drawn; because they're simply drawn, why should
they have more room? 
(from Calvin and Hobbes: Sunday Pages 1985-1995,
2001, Bill Watterson, p. 15) 
Despite the change, Calvin and Hobbes remained
extremely popular and thus Watterson was able to
expand his style and technique for the more
spacious Sunday strips without losing carriers.

Since ending the strip, Watterson has kept aloof
from the public eye and has given no indication of
resuming the strip or creating new works based on
the characters. He refuses to sign autographs or
license his characters, staying true to his stated
principles. However, he used to be known to sneak
autographed copies of his books onto the shelves
of a family-owned bookstore near his home in
Chagrin Falls, Ohio. However, after discovering
that some people were selling the autographed
books on eBay for high prices, he ended this
practice as well.


Merchandising
Bill Watterson is notable for his insistence that
cartoon strips should stand on their own as an art
form, and he has resisted the use of Calvin and
Hobbes in merchandising of any sort (Christie
1987). This insistence stuck despite what was
probably a cost of millions of dollars per year in
additional personal income. This also explains why
the strip has never been made into an animated
series.

Except for the books (see below) and two extremely
rare 16-month calendars (1988–1989 and 1989–1990),
virtually all Calvin and Hobbes merchandise,
including T-shirts as well as the ubiquitous
stickers for automobile rear windows which depict
Calvin urinating on a company's or sports team's
name or logo, are unauthorized. After threat of a
lawsuit alleging infringement of copyright and
trademark, some of the sticker makers replaced
Calvin with a different boy, while other makers
ignored the issue. Watterson wryly commented "I
clearly miscalculated how popular it would be to
show Calvin urinating on a Ford logo." [2] There
were some legitimate special items made, such as
promotional packages to sell the strip to
newspapers, but these were never sold outright.

As an item of trivia, comedian David Spade has a
tattoo of Calvin on his left arm. The artist was
actor Sean Penn, who would only be interviewed on
Saturday Night Live if he could give Spade a
tattoo.


Style and influences
Calvin and Hobbes strips are characterized by
sparse but careful draftsmanship, intelligent
humor, poignant observations, witty social and
political commentary, and well-developed
characters that are full of personality.
Precedents to Calvin's fantasy world can be found
in Charles M. Schulz's Peanuts, Percy Crosby's
Skippy, Berkeley Breathed's Bloom County, and
George Herriman's Krazy Kat, while Watterson's
use of comics as sociopolitical commentary reaches
back to Walt Kelly's Pogo. Schulz and Kelly in
particular influenced Watterson's outlook on
comics during his formative years (Christie
1987).

Notable elements of Watterson's artistic style
are his characters' diverse and often exaggerated
expressions (particularly those of Calvin),
elaborate and bizarre backgrounds for Calvin's
flights of imagination, well-captured kinetics,
and frequent visual jokes and metaphors. In the
later years of the strip, with more space
available for his use, Watterson experimented more
freely with different panel layouts, stories
without dialogue, and greater use of whitespace.

Watterson's technique started with minimal pencil
sketches (though the larger Sunday strips often
required more elaborate work); he then would use a
small sable brush and India ink to complete most
of the remaining drawing. He was careful in his
use of color, often spending a great deal of time
in choosing the right colors to employ for the
weekly Sunday strip.


Art and academia
Watterson has used the strip to criticise the
artistic world, principally through Calvin's
unconventional creations of snowmen. When Miss
Wormwood complains that he is wasting class time
drawing incomprehensible things (a stegosaurus in
a rocket ship, in fact), Calvin proclaims himself
"on the cutting edge of the avant-garde". He
begins exploring the medium of snow when a warm
day melts his snowman. His next sculpture "speaks
to the horror of our own mortality", inviting the
viewer to contemplate the fleeting nature of life,
much in the vein of Ecclesiastes. Over the years,
Calvin's creative instincts diversify into
sidewalk drawings ("suburban postmodernism").

Watterson also directed criticism toward the
academic world. Calvin writes a "revisionist
autobiography", giving himself a flame thrower;
he carefully crafts an "artist's statement",
knowing that such essays convey more messages than
artworks themselves ever do. ("You misspelled
Weltanschauung," Hobbes notes.) He indulges in
what Watterson calls "pop psychobabble" to
justify his destructive rampages and shift blame
to his parents, citing "toxic codependency".
Once, he pens a book report entitled, "The
dynamics of interbeing and monological imperatives
in Dick and Jane: a study in psychic
transrelational gender modes". Displaying his
creation to Hobbes, he remarks, "Academia, here I
come!" Watterson explains that he adapted this
jargon (and similar examples from several other
strips) from an actual book of art criticism
(Tenth Anniversary Book, p. 184).

Overall, Watterson's satirical essays serve to
attack both sides, criticising both the commercial
mainstream and the artists who are supposed to be
"outside" it. Walking contemplatively through
the woods, not long after he began drawing his
"Dinosaurs in Rocket Ships Series", Calvin tells
Hobbes,

The hard part for us avant-garde post-modern
artists is deciding whether or not to embrace
commercialism. Do we allow our work to be hyped
and exploited by a market that's simply hungry
for the next new thing? Do we participate in a
system that turns high art into low art so it's
better suited for mass consumption? 
Of course, when an artist goes commercial, he
makes a mockery of his status as an outsider and
free thinker. He buys into the crass and shallow
values art should transcend. He trades the
integrity of his art for riches and fame. 
Oh, what the heck. I'll do it. 
Such sentiments echo Watterson's own struggles
with his Syndicate over merchandising issues. In a
sense, they are the comic-strip equivalent of such
Frank Zappa songs as "Absolutely Free" (We're
Only In It For The Money, 1968) and "Tinsel Town
Rebellion" (1981).


Passage of time
When the strips were originally published,
Calvin's settings were seasonally appropriate.
Calvin would be seen building snowmen or sledding
during the wintertime, and outside activities such
as water balloon fights would replace school
during the summer. Christmas and Halloween strips
were run during those approximate times of year.

Although Watterson depicts several years' worth
of holidays, school years, summer vacations, and
camping trips, Calvin is never shown to age nor
have any birthday celebrations (the only shown
birthday was that of Susie Derkins). This is
fairly common among comic strips; consider the
children in Charles Schulz's Peanuts, most of
whom existed virtually without aging for decades.
Likewise, the characters in George Herriman's
Krazy Kat celebrate the New Year but never grow
old, and young characters like Ignatz Mouse's
offspring never seem to grow up. Since this is
such a common phenomenon, readers are likely to
suspend disbelief, as most of them do about
Calvin's precocious vocabulary, accepting that he
"was never a literal six-year-old" (Tenth
Anniversary Book).


The main characters

Calvin
Named after 16th-century theologian John Calvin
(founder of Calvinism and a strong believer in
predestination), Calvin is an impulsive,
imaginative, energetic, curious, intelligent,
self-centered, and often selfish six-year-old.
Despite his low grades, Calvin has a wide
vocabulary range that rivals that of an adult as
well as an emerging philisophical mind. Watterson
has described Calvin thus:

"Calvin is pretty easy to do because he is
outgoing and rambunctious and there's not much of
a filter between his brain and his mouth."
(Williams, 1987) 
"I guess he's a little too intelligent for his
age. The thing that I really enjoy about him is
that he has no sense of restraint, he doesn't
have the experience yet to know the things that
you shouldn't do." (Dean, 1987) 
"The socialization that we all go through to
become adults teaches you not to say certain
things because you later suffer the consequences.
Calvin doesn't know that rule of thumb yet."
(West, 1989) 
Calvinistic predestination as a philosophical
position basically entails the idea that human
action plays no part in affecting a person's
ultimate salvation or damnation. Calvin's
consistent gripe is that the troublesome acts he
commits are outside of his control: he is simply a
product of his environment, a victim of
circumstances.

Calvin commonly wears his distinctive striped
shirt. His last name is never mentioned in the
strips.


Hobbes
Hobbes is Calvin's tiger who, from Calvin's
perspective, is as alive and real as anyone else
in the strip. He is named after 17th-century
philosopher Thomas Hobbes, who had what Watterson
described as "a dim view of human nature." He is
famous for his claim that humans' natural state
is a state of war, where "the life of man [is],
solitary, poore [sic], nasty, brutish, and
short." Hobbes is much more rational and aware of
consequences than Calvin, but seldom interferes
with Calvin's troublemaking beyond a few oblique
warnings—after all, Calvin will be the one to get
in trouble for it, not Hobbes.

For the most part, Calvin and Hobbes converse and
play together, reveling in what is ultimately a
deep friendship. They also frequently argue or
even fight with each other, though their
disagreements are generally short-lived. Often
Hobbes ambushes Calvin with an energetic
pounce-and-tackle attack, which leaves Calvin
bruised and scraped up but not seriously harmed.
Hobbes takes great pleasure in his demonstrations
of feline prowess, while Calvin expresses keen
frustration at his inability to stop the attacks
or explain his injuries to his skeptical parents.

Watterson based some of Hobbes's characteristics,
especially his playfulness and attack instinct, on
his own pet cat, Sprite. Hobbes takes great pride
in being a feline and frequently makes wry or even
disparaging comments about human nature, declaring
his good fortune to lead a tiger's life. In
Calvin's philosphical ramblings, it is evident
that Hobbes is usually Bill Watterson's voice on
the subject, whereas Calvin usually seems to echo
the sentiments (or lack thereof) of modern
America.


Hobbes' reality
From Calvin's point of view, Hobbes is a walking,
talking, bipedal tiger, slightly taller than
Calvin and full of his own attitudes and ideas.
But when the perspective shifts to any other
character, we see merely a stuffed tiger. This is,
of course, an odd dichotomy, and Watterson
explains it thus:

When Hobbes is a stuffed toy in one panel and
alive in the next, I'm juxtaposing the
"grown-up" version of reality with Calvin's
version, and inviting the reader to decide which
is truer. (Christie, 1987) 
Many readers assume that Hobbes is either a
product of Calvin's imagination, or a doll that
comes to life when Calvin is the only one around.
However, both of these theories are incorrect. As
Watterson explains in the Tenth Anniversary Book,
"Hobbes is more about the subjective nature of
reality than dolls coming to life": thus there is
no concrete definition of Hobbes' reality.
Watterson explained: "Calvin sees Hobbes one way,
and everyone else sees Hobbes another way."
Hobbes' reality is in the eye of the beholder.

Sometimes Hobbes breaks the fourth wall and speaks
directly to the reader, such as when Calvin tries
to parachute from his house's roof ("His mom's
going to have a fit about those rose bushes"). On
other occasions, it is difficult to imagine how
the "stuffed toy" interpretation of Hobbes is
consistent with what the characters see. For
example, he "assists" Calvin's attempt to
become a Houdini-style escape artist by tying
Calvin to a chair. Calvin, however, cannot escape,
and his irritated father must undo the knots, all
the while asking Calvin how he could do this to
himself. In a rare interview, Watterson explained
his approach to this situation:

Calvin's dad finds him tied up and the question
remains, really, how did he get that way? His dad
assumes that Calvin tied himself up somehow, so
well that he couldn't get out. Calvin explains
that Hobbes did this to him and he tries to place
the blame on Hobbes entirely, and it's never
resolved in the strip. Again I don't think
that's just a cheap way out of the story. I like
the tension that that creates, where you've got
two versions of reality that do not mix. Something
odd has happened and neither makes complete sense,
so you're left to make out of it what you want.
(West, 1989) 
In another story, Susie has to stay at Calvin's
house after school because her parents are working
late. Calvin only finds this out on the way home
and when Calvin and Susie reach the house, Hobbes
is waiting by the door for Susie and wearing a
tie. But the question is, how is Hobbes wearing
the tie? Another instance of ambiguity is a strip
in which Calvin imagines Hobbes and himself on the
front page of many newspapers after winning a
contest. Although these newspapers are clearly a
figment of Calvin's imagination, Hobbes appears
in "stuffed" form. Once, Calvin attempts to
capture a picture of Hobbes pouncing on him.
Calvin's father assumes Calvin just threw Hobbes
up in the air, a viewpoint to which Hobbes takes
great offence. Calvin and Hobbes also spend an
afternoon taking a multitude of Polaroid pictures
of Hobbes making various faces. To the pair of
them, every picture is different, but to Calvin's
father, it looks like Calvin just took a whole
roll of his stuffed tiger sitting on the ground.

Many people feel that the blurred reality between
Hobbes' two forms is both amusing and
philosophical. Hobbes is often the voice of
reason, contrasting Calvin's manic impulsiveness.
Readers are left to wonder if this rationality is
in Hobbes as a distinct personality, or in Calvin
as a kind of conscience.


Supporting characters

Recurring characters

Calvin's family
 
Calvin's unnamed parents, usually referred to
only as "Mom" and "Dad".Calvin's mother and
father are for the most part typical Middle
American middle-class parents; like many other
characters in the strip, their relatively
down-to-earth and sensible attitudes serve
primarily as a foil for Calvin's outlandish
behavior. Both parents go through the entire strip
unnamed, except as "Mom" and "Dad", or such
pet names as "hon" and "dear".

Calvin's father is a middle-aged patent attorney
who is portrayed as an upstanding middle-class
father, as his son might see him. An outdoorsman,
he enjoys bike rides and camping trips, and
insists that these activities, like Calvin's
chores, "build character". When Calvin asks him
questions, he often makes up outlandish answers,
such as:

Calvin: "Why does [the sun] move from east to
west?" 
Dad: "Solar wind." 
Calvin: "Dad, what makes wind?" 
Dad: "Trees sneezing." 
Calvin: "Really?" 
Dad: "No, but the real answer is more
complicated." 
Calvin (later, to Hobbes): "The trees are really
sneezing today." 
The character is closely based on Watterson's own
father, who was also a patent attorney, and often
told his family how so many unpleasant things
"built character". The actual caricature is
rumored to be a self-portrait of Watterson
himself, minus his facial hair. Watterson has said
that he identifies more with this character than
with Calvin.

Calvin's mother is a stay-at-home parent who is
frequently exasperated by Calvin's antics. On the
rare occasions when she is not reacting to
Calvin's misbehavior, she seems to enjoy quiet
activities, such as gardening and reading. She
occasionally uses parenting methods that seem
unconventional; in one Sunday strip, she allows
Calvin to smoke a cigarette in order to teach him
how unpleasant smoking can be. She also usually
seems sympathetic towards her son's relationship
with Hobbes, and a few times has found herself
speaking to Hobbes as well.

Upon occasion, Watterson takes the time to flesh
out the two parental characters. One example is a
storyline in which the family returns from a
wedding to find their house broken into. For
several strips, Calvin and Hobbes fade into the
background as Mom and Dad reflect on the impact of
the event.

Calvin's parents drive a purple hatchback similar
to an early 1980s Honda Civic or VW Rabbit. The
car is the setting of family trips, and is
occasionally the victim of Calvin's mischief,
such as when he pushes the car into a ditch or
attempts to sell it.

Calvin also has a maternal grandmother and
maternal grandfather. A grandfather who smokes is
also mentioned, but it is unclear whether he is
the maternal or paternal grandfather; none appear
in the strip, and are only rarely mentioned in
dialogue. Calvin also has an Uncle Max, who was
present in half a dozen strips; Watterson decided
not to bring him back because he came to feel that
Max was a character without much potential, and
also because of the problems involved in Max not
being able to call Calvin's parents by their
first name; he often referred to Calvin's father
simply as "Bro".


Susie Derkins
 
Susie Derkins, Calvin's classmate.Susie Derkins
is a classmate of Calvin's who lives in his
neighborhood. She first appeared early in the
strip as a new student in Calvin's class. In
contrast with Calvin, she is polite and diligent
in her studies, and her imagination usually seems
mild-mannered and civilized, consisting of
stereotypical young girl games such as playing
house or having tea parties with her stuffed
animals. "Derkins" was the name of Watterson's
wife's childhood pet, and he liked the name so
much he named a character after it.

Susie and Calvin's relationship is a constant
source of tension; she is frequently the victim of
Calvin's derision and plots, and is also often
willing to retaliate when provoked. Most commonly,
Susie will be the target of Calvin's water
balloons or snowballs, and he often goes to great
lengths to disgust or annoy Susie. Calvin founded
his and Hobbes' secret club, G.R.O.S.S. (Get Rid
Of Slimy GirlS) as a general anti-girl
organization, but in practice the club is almost
invariably dedicated to pestering Susie
specifically.

Watterson admits that Calvin and Susie have a bit
of a nascent crush on each other, and that Susie
is inspired by the type of women he himself finds
attractive. Her relationship with Calvin, though,
is frequently conflicted, and never really becomes
sorted out. The love/hate relationship is most
obvious in some of the early comics involving
Susie and Calvin's relationships, when some
punchlines revolved around Susie and Calvin going
out of their way to malign each other, followed
immediately by each thinking romantic thoughts
about the other. Specifically, in an early
Valentine's Day strip, Susie seems to appreciate
a rather juvenile and insulting card Calvin gives
her, and he rejoices when she notices him.
Watterson, in retrospect, decided this was a bit
heavy-handed and resolved simply let the two
characters bounce off each other in future, to the
point of practically removing any romantic
subtext.

On occasion, Hobbes takes action to attract
Susie's romantic attention, often with success,
and much to Calvin's chagrin. Although on the
surface these scenarios take the form of Hobbes
teasing Calvin and showing off his charms, they
may be Calvin's way to disguise his own crush on
Susie, by pretending that it is Hobbes' crush
instead.


Miss Wormwood
 
Miss Wormwood, Calvin's teacher.Miss Wormwood is
Calvin's world-weary teacher, named after the
apprentice devil in C.S. Lewis's The Screwtape
Letters. She perpetually wears polka-dotted
dresses, and is another character who serves as a
foil to Calvin's mischief.

Miss Wormwood is rarely sympathetic to the trouble
Calvin has in school, and comes across as a rather
strict, dour character. She is quick to send
Calvin to the principal's office at the first
sign of trouble. She is also a heavy
smoker—"Rumor has it she's up to two packs a
day, unfiltered"—mixes different stress-related
medications, and is waiting for retirement.

Although there is a definite progression of time
in the Calvin and Hobbes universe, mainly
exhibited by the changing seasons, Calvin (and
Susie) return to Ms. Wormwood's first grade class
every fall.


Rosalyn
 
Rosalyn, Calvin's babysitter.Rosalyn is a high
school senior who occasionally finds herself
babysitting Calvin whenever Calvin's parents go
out for a night. Rosalyn is the only babysitter
willing to tolerate Calvin's antics more than
once, and Calvin's parents most often end up
paying her extra and in advance, in order to
ensure that she will continue accepting the job.

Rosalyn's idea of babysitting Calvin is often to
put him to bed at 6:30, and she has little
patience for Calvin's attempts to rebel against
her. Calvin will often freak out whenever he hears
that Rosalyn is going to be babysitting him, in
one instance screaming nonstop for an entire comic
upon learning of her imminent arrival. These
babysitting sessions tend to degenerate into war
zones, as Calvin short-sightedly attempts to cause
as much trouble as possible for her.

Watterson has said he thinks that Rosalyn is the
only person who Calvin truly fears, and, like
Susie, she is sometimes willing to sink to
Calvin's level to retaliate against his antics.
She is frequently able to turn his plots against
him, either by cunning, by brute force, or just by
waiting until his parents inevitably get home. In
one of the later Rosalyn stories, it is revealed
that she is also a skilled Calvinball player, much
to Calvin's surprise.


Moe
 
Moe, a bully at Calvin's school.Moe is the
prototypical bully character in Calvin & Hobbes,
"a six-year-old who shaves", according to
Calvin. Moe is the only regular character who
speaks in an unusual font: his (frequently
monosyllabic) dialogue is shown in crude,
lower-case letters. Watterson describes Moe as
"every jerk I've ever known".

Moe's main function in the strip is to take
Calvin's lunch money, harrass him in the
hallways, and otherwise serve as a source of
suffering and unpleasantness. While Rosalyn is
frequently a match for Calvin's plans, Moe seems
to be the only character capable of frustrating
Calvin to the point of absolute resignation;
Calvin's rare attempts to retaliate have mainly
consisted of mocking Moe with words he can't
understand.

Calvin: "The simian aspect of your countenance
suggests a heritage unusually rich in species
diversity." 
Moe: "...What??" 
Calvin (handing Moe his lunch money): "Never
mind. Here." 

Minor characters
Aliens: Calvin encounters many extraterrestrial
life forms in the course of the strip, usually
through the adventures of his alter-ego Spaceman
Spiff. Most of aliens are non-humanoid, bizarre
monsters, and these imagined aliens frequently
turn out to be Susie or Calvin's parents or
teachers in reality. Initially, many of the aliens
spoke in garbled, somewhat onomatopoeic language,
with lines like "Ugga muk bluh Spiff". Later,
some aliens' speech balloons contained geometric
symbols with unclear phonetic values, such as the
speech for two recurring alien characters in the
strip's final year, Galaxoid and Nebular. 
Doctor: Calvin occasionally visits his
pediatrician, who appears to be a mild-mannered
physician with a friendly demeanor. Calvin,
however, frequently sees him as a vicious,
sadistic interrogator, sometimes visualizing him
as an alien or overreacting to his playful
diagnoses. 
Principal Spittle: Calvin's school principal, Mr.
Spittle, usually makes his appearance when Calvin
has gone too far in testing Miss Wormwood's
limits. He is portrayed as the same stale,
academic type of character as Miss Wormwood. Mr.
Spittle rarely speaks in the strip; typically, he
is seen in the last frame looking over his desk as
Calvin tries to explain his latest mishap. 
Classmates: The reader sees various classmates of
Calvin, but other than Susie and Moe they are
almost entirely anonymous (though one of them,
with light hair and glasses, appears to be named
Candace and a friend of Susie's). Calvin seems
only vaguely aware of them, but when he does pay
attention to them they are always antagonists, as
they see Calvin as the misbehaving minority who
makes things difficult for the conforming
majority. An interesting point of fact: all of the
classmates besides Calvin and Susie have unusually
large heads. 
Uncle Max: Uncle Max is Calvin's uncle, his
father's brother, who resembles his father with a
bushy mustache. Max appears in the strip on only a
couple of occasions. Watterson found it difficult
to write Max's dialogue without his referring to
Calvin's parents by name, and also felt that Max
just didn't fit in the universe of Calvin and
Hobbes, so his existence was limited to a few
strips. 
Mr. Lockjaw: Mr. Lockjaw is the gym teacher and
coach of the baseball team at Calvin's school. He
is a squat, burly man with little patience for
people like Calvin who lack a competitive spirit;
when Calvin leaves the team, Lockjaw calls him a
"quitter", and this emotional trauma leads to
the reader's first encounter with Calvinball
(described below). 
Scouts: Early in the strip, Watterson shows Calvin
participating with other children in Cub Scout
activities in the woods. Watterson thought at the
time that scouting might offer some potential for
interesting adventures, but eventually abandoned
the idea, considering it uncharacteristic of
Calvin to join an organization, and viewing it as
a distraction from Calvin's intentionally
personal world. 

Recurring themes

Calvin's alter-egos
Calvin's hyperactive imagination leads him to
imagine himself as other characters with different
powers and goals. It is important to note that
Hobbes is not seen taking part in the fantasies
involving Calvin's alter-egos, other than
criticizing his choice of alter-egos.

Stupendous Man - a superhero Calvin often turns
into with the help of a mask and cape his mom
created for him. This character defends against
such terrifying prospects as Rosalyn or, once,
Miss Wormwood and the school principal. Calvin
only possesses the maroon cape and cowl; his
imagination supplies the rest of the spandex
outfit. Stupendous Man once spun around the world
so fast that he turned time back to the previous
night (Friday). 
Spaceman Spiff - a space traveller who fights
alien monsters on far-away planets, based upon
Watterson's earlier attempts at syndicated comics
and a parody of Flash Gordon. Often Spaceman Spiff
either crashes or has crashed on an alien world. 
Tracer Bullet - a private investigator. Modeled on
"private eye" clichés from film noir and mystery
fiction, Tracer Bullet is a tough-guy investigator
drawn in a high-contrast art style. Watterson
considered this style dramatic but regarded it as
time-consuming, so he drew relatively few Tracer
Bullet strips (Tenth Anniversary Book). 
Safari Al - a pith-helmeted explorer reminiscent
of British colonialists such as David Livingstone,
Safari Al is only rarely portrayed in Calvin and
Hobbes. Never a well-developed character, he seems
to not have been to Watterson's liking and
quietly faded into oblivion. 
Dinosaurs - Calvin loves dinosaurs; they are
almost the only subject he studies of his own free
will. This, of course, means that Calvin imagines
himself as a dinosaur in many of the strips.
Whenever Calvin is pretending to be a dinosaur, he
is usually a predator (such as a Tyrannosaurus
rex) on the hunt. He has also, on occasion,
imagined himself as a 'Calvinosaur', a monstrous
theropod that could apparently devour even the
largest sauropods in one bite. 
Animals - Calvin sees himself in a variety of
animal bodies as well, from large mammals to
insects. Sometimes this is a result of being
transmogrified. 
Forces of nature/objects - Calvin sometimes
imagines himself as a gigantic thunderstorm, a
light particle, an active volcano, a planet
causing a solar eclipse, a "C-bomb," and so on.

Captain Napalm - a superhero who protects "truth,
justice and the American Way.” Only seen on one or
two occasions and is a satirical Captain America
of sorts. Calvin draws this character from a comic
book hero, leader of the "Thermonuclear League of
Liberty," whose exploits he diligently reads,
though he is rarely seen with a new issue of it. 
God - Calvin sometimes sees himself as a God (in
the context of the Olympian gods), perhaps as the
logical extension of imagining himself a superhero
or force of nature. When he does so, however, he
imagines himself as a highly destructive and
vengeful lord of destruction. He does this in
several ways—in one strip with the aid of
Tinkertoys. 

Monsters under the bed
At nighttime, Calvin is constantly terrorised by
nightmarish creatures apparently living under his
bed. Only Calvin and Hobbes are aware of them
(there are occasions on which they attempt to
bribe Hobbes into handing Calvin over, often with
food). Whenever they appear on the strip, there
never appears to be a continuing theme to their
appearance; beyond that they are very
intimidating, but none too bright.


G.R.O.S.S.
G.R.O.S.S. is the acronym for a club that stands
for Get Rid Of Slimy girlS (which Calvin admits is
a bit redundant, "but otherwise it doesn't spell
anything"). Based in a treehouse, the main
objective of G.R.O.S.S. is to exclude girls,
mostly Calvin's neighbor Susie. Calvin and Hobbes
are its only members, and wear hats made out of
newspaper during meetings. Calvin and Hobbes spend
most of their time in the club reworking its
constitution and arguing about their excessively
bureaucratic roles and titles. Because the club is
specifically made to harass girls they will
sometimes make missions to do so. Whenever they do
have a mission, they give themselves medals
regardless if they succeed of fail.


Mealtimes
Lunchtime and dinnertime find Calvin eager to
share his thoughts about the food he or others are
eating. Calvin's meals at home are generally
depicted as a pile of unidentifiable green goop.
Those eating with him are generally repulsed by
his colorful descriptions of the meal. Calvin's
mother occasionally coaxes him to eat his dinner
by informing him that they are serving some
outlandish or stomach-turning dish, which he then
eats with relish, and his father usually loses his
appetite. On occasion, his meals are also animate,
usually resulting a fight with said food that
leaves a large mess that strains his mother's
patience.


Cardboard boxes
Calvin has an obsession with corrugated cardboard
boxes, which he adapts for many different uses.
Forms include a Transmogrifier (a device that can
change any object into another object), a
duplicator (which can make copies of any object),
and a flying time machine.

Most of the other characters do not see his
inventions as "real". For example, when Calvin
transmogrifies himself into an owl or a tiger, his
parents do not observe the transformation; only he
and Hobbes see the change. This is a similar
dilemma to that of Hobbes' existence (see above).
The whole question of the existence of Calvin's
technological advancements can be explained much
like that of Hobbes's dual nature. Bill Watterson
has intentionally avoided resolving the situation
so that the reader might take one position or the
other; the fullest enjoyment comes from
appreciating all the characters' viewpoints.


Wagon and sled
Calvin and Hobbes frequently ride downhill in a
wagon, sled, or toboggan (depending on the season)
and ponder about life, death, God, and a variety
of other weighty subjects as they hurtle downhill.
The course of the vehicle and the obstacles that
the characters negotiate as they travel frequently
serve as metaphors for and parallel the subject of
conversation, and the rides almost always end in a
spectacular crash.


Calvinball
Calvinball is a game played almost exclusively by
Calvin and Hobbes as a rebellion against organized
team sports (like baseball), although the
babysitter Rosalyn plays on one occasion.
Participants of Calvinball wear burglar-style
masks. When asked why, Calvin replies that "no
one is allowed to question the masks". The rules
of the game, besides the soccer ball and wickets
almost always used, are made up as they go along,
but the one consistent rule is that the rules can
never be the same twice. Either player may change
any rule at any time, so the only way to break the
rules is by using one rule twice. Scoring is also
entirely arbitrary: Hobbes has reported scores of
"Q to 12" and "oogy to boogy".

The reader first encounters the game after
Calvin's horrible experience with school
baseball. He registers to play baseball in order
to avoid being teased by the other boys. While
daydreaming in the outfield, he misses the switch
and ends up making an out against his own team.
His classmates mock him and, when he decides to
walk away, his coach calls him a "quitter". That
Saturday, Calvin and Hobbes play Calvinball, a
game far removed from any organized sport.

Watterson has stated that the greatest number of
questions he receives concern Calvinball and how
to play it.

Calvinball is now entering the language as a
popular neologism, referring to any situation
where the rules are seemingly being made up.


School and homework
Calvin hates school and its attendant
early-morning risings, irate teachers, homework,
and fellow students. Often his mother has to force
the unwilling Calvin to go up to the school bus.
Occasionally he manages to avoid the bus and his
mother has to chase him down to force him on, or
drive him to school. He often waits for the bus
with Hobbes and explains why an intelligent boy
like himself does not need school. While at
school, he often visualizes the building as a
hostile planet and his teacher and principal as
vicious aliens. Calvin usually lacks the company
of Hobbes at school. Sometimes Hobbes does his
homework and reading while Calvin watches TV or
reads comic books. In general, Calvin is depicted
as a poor student who is unable to concentrate in
class, has difficulty interacting with other
students, and struggles with homework. On
occasion, he gets good marks and positive feedback
for work, but these are usually short-lived
victories.


Calvin and Hobbes books
Books with a "Yes" in the "Collection?" column
comprise all of the regular strips that appeared
in newspapers. The column shows which books are
needed to form a complete collection of the
newspaper strips, except for one single daily
strip, 28 November 1985.

A complete collection of Calvin and Hobbes strips,
in three hardcover volumes, with a total 1440
pages, was released on October 4, 2005 by Andrews
McMeel Publishing (ISBN 0740748475). It also
includes color prints of the art used on paperback
covers, the story "Spaceman Spiff: Interplanetary
Explorer Extraordinaire!", and a new introduction
by Bill Watterson, who is now happily teaching
himself to paint.

To celebrate the release, Calvin and Hobbes reruns
will be available to newspapers from Sunday,
September 4, 2005 through Saturday, December 31,
2005, and Bill Watterson will answer questions
submitted by readers. [3] [4] Like current
contemporary strips, weekday Calvin and Hobbes
strips now appear in color print when available,
instead of black-and-white as in their first run.

Title Cover Date ISBN Original content Collection?

Calvin and Hobbes  April 1987 ISBN 0836220889
Foreword by Garry Trudeau Yes 
Something Under the Bed is Drooling  April 1988
ISBN 0836218256 Foreword by Pat Oliphant Yes 
The Essential Calvin and Hobbes: A Calvin and
Hobbes Treasury  September 1988 ISBN 0836218051
Foreword by Charles M. Schulz and original
illustrated poem, "A Nauseous Nocturne" No 
Yukon Ho!  March 1989 ISBN 0836218353 The "Yukon
Song" Yes 
The Calvin and Hobbes Lazy Sunday Book: A
Collection of Sunday Calvin and Hobbes Cartoons 
September 1989 ISBN 0836218523 Ten-page story
"Spaceman Spiff: Interplanetary Explorer
Extraordinaire!" No 
Weirdos From Another Planet!  March 1990 ISBN
0836218620  Yes 
The Authoritative Calvin and Hobbes: A Calvin and
Hobbes Treasury  October 1990 ISBN 0836218221
Seven-page story in which Calvin becomes an
elephant No 
The Revenge of the Baby-Sat  April 1991 ISBN
0836218663  Yes 
Scientific Progress Goes "Boink"  October 1991
ISBN 0836218787  Yes 
Attack of the Deranged Mutant Killer Monster Snow
Goons  April 1992 ISBN 0836218833  Yes 
The Indispensable Calvin and Hobbes  October 1992
ISBN 0836218981 Several illustrated poems No 
The Days are Just Packed  October 1993 ISBN
0836217357  Yes 
Homicidal Psycho Jungle Cat  October 1994 ISBN
0836217691  Yes 
The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book 
October 1995 ISBN 0836204387 Commentary by
Watterson and annotations on individual strips No

There's Treasure Everywhere  March 1996 ISBN
0836213122  Yes 
It's A Magical World  October 1996 ISBN
0836221362  Yes 
Calvin and Hobbes: Sunday Pages 1985-1995 
September 2001 ISBN 0740721356 Original sketches
and commentary No 
The Complete Calvin and Hobbes  October 2005 ISBN
0740748475 Commentary No 


Early books were printed in smaller format in
black and white that were later reproduced in twos
in color in the "Treasuries" ("Essential",
"Authoritative", and "Indispensable"), except
for the contents of Attack of the Deranged Mutant
Killer Monster Snow Goons whose Sunday strips have
never been reprinted in color [5]. Every book
since then has been printed in a larger format
with Sundays in color and weekday and Saturday
strips larger than appeared in most newspapers.
Remaining books do contain some additional
content; for instance, The Calvin and Hobbes Lazy
Sunday Book contains a long watercolor Spaceman
Spiff epic not seen elsewhere and The Calvin and
Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book contains much
original commentary from Watterson. Calvin and
Hobbes: Sunday Pages 1985-1995 released in 2001
contains 36 Sunday strips in color alongside
Watterson's original sketches, prepared for an
exhibition at The Ohio State University Cartoon
Research Library. A children's textbook entitled
Teaching with Calvin and Hobbes (ISBN 1878849158)
was published in 1993.


Related articles
Calvin and Hobbes in translation 
Comic and cartoon characters named after people 
List of fictional films in Calvin and Hobbes 
Setting of Calvin and Hobbes