On a bright and promising day in (probably) 2016, I marched into Dean’s Books in Topeka with a crisp Andrew Jackson and a dream. I had only one goal: find the best Calvin and Hobbes collection they have, and make it mine. I was crazy about Bill Watterson’s Calvin and Hobbes when I was younger. My dad introduced me to the comic strip when I was very young by giving me the two collections he had from his youth. I still have them on my bookshelf at home, and I perused their pages to help me write this. Anyway, on this fateful 2016 day, I purchased the first two Calvin and Hobbes collections of my own, titled The Indispensable Calvin and Hobbes and The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book, the latter of which I used to write the majority of this article. It provides incredible author insights into the creation and intention of Calvin and Hobbes, and through this, I was able to articulate my own feelings about this beloved piece of my youth, which I want to share with you.
Calvin and Hobbes is a comic strip created by Bill Watterson and first published in 1985. It ran for ten years in daily and Sunday papers, and garnered a cult following throughout this time. The premise of the story follows six-year-old Calvin (named after philosopher John Calvin) in his adventures with his stuffed tiger, Hobbes (named after philosopher Thomas Hobbes). Readers follow the two through their trials of elementary school and nights with a babysitter, as well as wagon rides through Calvin’s backyard and imaginative travels through space and time. I love Calvin and Hobbes, not only because of the fond memories I have of it, but also for what it taught me at a young age and what it continues to teach me every time I re-read the same collections over and over again.
One of the most compelling components of Calvin and Hobbes is its unique, but limited cast. There are only eight recurring characters, each one vital to the story as they bring out unique sides of Calvin, our protagonist. When reflecting on Calvin’s character in The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book, Watterson writes, “Calvin reflects my adulthood more than my childhood [. . .] I use Calvin as an outlet for my immaturity, as a way to keep myself curious about the natural world, as a way to ridicule my own obsessions, and as a way to comment on human nature. I wouldn’t want Calvin in my own house, but on paper, he helps me sort through my life and understand it.” Personally, I feel that too often authors will write traits into a character or make a whole character solely because they feel that it is what the audience wants. I find this kind of writing to be very obvious and quite disingenuous. I applaud Watterson’s craft of Calvin simply because he wrote him with no audience in mind. Calvin’s character is a meditative vessel for Watterson—a device of someone who is simply trying to make sense of his adulthood through this creative outlet that people just so happened to love. I think that people love Calvin and keep reading his stories day after day because they saw themselves, or an old part of themselves, in his character. Relating to an audience in writing can be difficult at times because you want your audience to like what you are saying, but you’re not really sure what would be liked. I’ve found that the best way to go about this is to just write whatever you want, as it will certainly affect someone in the way you intend. As a reader, I can immediately tell when an article or novel was not produced directly from the author’s passion, and it deters me from reading more. I want to be able to feel what the author was thinking, how the thoughts were coming together in their mind, and the struggle or ease it may have taken to write them down. This is the feeling I get when I read about Calvin’s pursuits—I know exactly what Watterson was thinking and feeling—and this is what I try to encapsulate in my own writing. I hope you can feel every word I think and every sentence I scrap before I make a final draft.
I want to remain on the topic of the strip’s characters just a little bit more. Given the fact that there are so few characters in the strip, Calvin and Hobbes are often isolated in their own imaginative world, which I feel is the essence of the story. The most meaningful moments of the strip are the times that Calvin and Hobbes are on their own expeditions or having their own philosophical discussions away from the noise of parents, babysitters, teachers, or school bullies. The pair produces just enough chaos on their own for these standalone moments to be the most entertaining. The strip loses its touch when there are too many scenes of Calvin and Hobbes around many other people, like in the early days of the strip when Calvin is in a Cub Scout troop. The side characters do play a crucial role in developing the story, but Watterson still intended for them to be side characters—not meaning to interfere with the playfulness that is intrinsic to scenes of only Calvin and Hobbes. Background characters serve only as devices to emphasize elements that are already there in Calvin and Hobbes’ own characters, as the main appeal of the strip resides in the main duo’s interactions. Watterson commented on this phenomenon, saying, “Calvin is not the kind of kid who would join a group anyway,” which is a fitting summation of Calvin’s character. He embodies perfect enjoyment with himself and his ability to stay happily occupied; the only other person he needs is Hobbes.
The plot of the comic strip surprisingly covers a wide range of material. Overall, the strip is obviously meant to be comedic, but there are times when it explores difficult, deep subjects such as human existence, the necessity of love, and even death. In an early strip, Calvin and Hobbes happen upon a young dying raccoon in the woods. They attempt to save it by bringing it home under the supervised care of Mom, since “you don’t get to be Mom if you can’t fix everything just right.” Sadly, the little raccoon ends up dying while Calvin is asleep, to which he is distraught to find out when he wakes in the morning. For a strip initially targeted as having an audience that includes a large amount of child viewers, Calvin asks very mature questions like “why did that little raccoon have to die?” and “what’s the point of putting him here and taking him back so soon?” However, I feel that this balance between the typical comedic tone of the strip with this more heartfelt moment is exactly what children should be seeing in media because it’s reflective of what they see in their own lives. These questions perfectly display the attitude of a six-year-old experiencing something so deep for the first time in his life, as they are simultaneously innocent and eternally curious about the world around him. Calvin is a naturally-curious child, which often leads him to ask these big questions, but I think every child naturally exhibits this same behavior. When children aren’t stifled by adults telling them that something is “too complicated” or that they “don’t need to worry about” a certain situation, the child is conditioned to ask less, which leads to a diminishing curiosity, which I see as a tragedy. Youthful curiosity is meant to be nurtured in a positive direction, not suffocated by adults with heat-sealed apathy. Calvin is fortunate to have parents that show him the best side of difficult situations, which is the best way to lead a curious mind. Instances like this build his character to be more empathetic toward the world while still continuing to ask questions. This strip in particular also shows Calvin’s caring and compassionate side, as he wants to nurse the raccoon back to health so much so that he loses sleep over the situation. This element contrasts his typical outward attitude of mischief to display a softer side, appealing to readers’ sense of empathy.
I think everyone should read Calvin and Hobbes. Maybe they’ll remember what it felt like to experience something cruel at the age of innocence and have more empathy to the many children that experience cruelty in their lives. Maybe they’ll be driven to cultivate these young minds to remain curious and retain a desire to make things better despite first-handedly facing manifestations of another man’s anger in their everyday lives. Do you think that a comic strip can move an individual so much that they change their attitude to the world? That they change their actions? Can a close read of Calvin and Hobbes inspire someone so much that they develop a desire to help and heal all those that have been negatively affected by the unfortunate tides of the world? Probably, which is why I hope the right person happens upon a collection of Calvin and Hobbes one day.
Lastly, through all the unique storytelling devices that Watterson uses in Calvin and Hobbes, my favorite is Calvin’s wagon. The wagon almost exclusively appears in scenes of long-winded philosophical discussion between Calvin and Hobbes, so as I’ve gotten older I find that I gravitate to these strips in any collection. I skimmed over these strips when I was younger, mostly because I didn’t understand the material, but they hold a high importance to me now. In the wagon, Calvin and Hobbes are always portrayed as riding through the dense woods of Calvin’s backyard. Watterson describes this setting as, “important to the strip, because it’s the place where Calvin and Hobbes can get away from everyone and be themselves. The solitude of the woods brings out Calvin’s small, but redeeming, contemplative side.” This contemplative side is a nod to Calvin’s namesake, John Calvin, the 16th-century author of the idea of predestination. As an important component of Calvin’s personality, this side of him deepens the idea that Calvin is more than just an imaginative, mischievous kid. He’s a six-year-old with important thoughts and feelings, like the all the rest of us were years ago.
I think that often parents downplay the stress and frustrations that children carry simply because the adults have experienced more in their lives, which gives them a much larger frame of reference to define “stress,” or “frustration.” Calvin, despite being a persistent pain to his parents, is still just a child growing up and trying to have the most fun possible while doing it. I think everyone could and should learn something from him, especially in these wagon scenes. Personally, I interpret them as a reminder that nothing is ever as serious as I might initially conceive it to be. Whether this is getting a bad grade in an “important” class, or overthinking how someone might feel about me, or trying to make plans for next weekend—nothing is ever that serious. In the end, maybe everything is just a wagon ride through the woods with your best friend. It can be fun, adventurous, or even scary, but once it’s all done, you’ll always end up at home, and someone who loves you will have lunch waiting on the counter for you.
Still, with its profound moments, Calvin and Hobbes is a comic strip about a six-year-old and his stuffed tiger. Not all of the strips have big takeaways or provide important insights into the human experience. Sometimes it’s just a story about Calvin making duplicates of himself, then at the end of the story’s three-week run, the last line is “we didn’t learn any big lesson.” To me, these are the funniest moments, and I think it’s what makes the comic so captivating. Having a mostly unserious long-term story with moments of seriousness is probably the best way to do it, as the comic is intended to be a reflection of life, and that’s exactly what life is. Watterson’s overarching message of Calvin and Hobbes is to simply find the fun of it all. I wish I came up with this idea, as it really does make for a great comic. I hope that everyone who got Calvin and Hobbes in their newspaper every morning knew the true quality of what they were being presented.
Please go read Calvin and Hobbes. You won’t be disappointed.