Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for August 18, 2022

Calvin, admit it: You love the monsters! That’s why you think about them all the time.

When you try too hard to think about something, that’s ALL you can think about.

It’s similar to how it’s really hard to fall asleep when you’re actively trying to do so.

Didn’t even try.

“Will you be quiet,” groggily says Hobbes. “I’m trying to sleep.”

“Well, excuse me,” sarcastically says Calvin, “you’re interrupting your beauty sleep while I’m getting eaten by monsters!”

Just like how Mom lied to Calvin!

Bishop Berkeley refuted.

Things that go bump in the night

Love Calvin’s creepy expression in panel #3.

BTW, where’s Hobbes? Can’t he demolish the monsters? Or was he successfully bribed with a tuna sandwich??

Dang! I’d be scared too if I saw something that big and ugly in my room….

How DOES she get any sleep.

Any self-respecting under the bed or its brother the closet Monster would be Terrorized by Calvin !

Going on from yesterday, I think we need a bigger poker….

It’s a bit like trying not to scratch an itch. Resist and it spreads.

I used to worry about those monsters, but then I realized that the dust bunnies needed to eat something.

Only time Hobbes has been present in this arc was when he and Calvin were discussing monsters. Hobbes must be the monster under the bed

Now that there is a look of horror in panel three.

That was horrific.

Meanwhile, Hobbes is sleeping and getting a good night’s rest!

That monster was too big to slip under the bed.

Check your closet… The monsters like closets, too.

Can’t understand why ‘Calvin’ has a problem with ‘monsters under the bed’ when he has a ‘ferocious’ tiger in bed with him ! ! !

Enter Sandman is very appropriate for Calvin.

“Sleep with one eye open”

Our own personal monsters are only as bad as we think they are. Other peoples monsters are trivial. Okay?

The only “monster” under my bed was my younger brother on the bottom bunk.

It is pitch dark. You are likely to be devoured by a Grue.

It’s when you wake up and the monster is in bed with you that things get seriously adult. :)

Well great, now I’M going to think about monsters under MY bed.

I have met the monsters and they are us

“Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away.” ― Philip K. Dick

Antigonish by Hughes Mearns – Yesterday, upon the stair,I met a man who wasn’t thereHe wasn’t there again todayI wish, I wish he’d go away…

When I came home last night at threeThe man was waiting there for meBut when I looked around the hallI couldn’t see him there at all!Go away, go away, don’t you come back any more!Go away, go away, and please don’t slam the door… (slam!)

Last night I saw upon the stairA little man who wasn’t thereHe wasn’t there again todayOh, how I wish he’d go away…

Well, that’s terrifying.

If the monsters want him so bad, they could just pluck him out of bed. Why do they need him to leave the bed to get him?

That third panel is pretty creepy. Nothing like Monday’s strip with the tentacle posing as Calvin’s mom.

Love to see mom’s reaction to Calvin’s call at the dead of night. Dad would not be perturbed at this usual ritual.

Just start thinking about Suzie, that’ll take your mind off of the monsters.

Calvin needs a multi-colored strobe light to put under the bed.

Mistake number one: Should’ve gone under the covers immediately after making that statement.

I didn’t worry about monsters hiding. I grew up with knotty pine paneling in the hall and down the stairs. After waking up from a bad dream and going down stairs to safety there were hundreds of eyes watching you!