“Weirdness is Nature’s way of adapting to its environment.” It’s certainly been weird in the last few years! BTW, I knew it was gonna be Susie Derkins!
We humans are very prejudiced towards other lifeforms. The further the lifeform is from us, the less we like it.
Mammals are generally accepted: kittens and puppies are cute. However the further away you go on the life tree, the less likely it is that humans will accept an organism.
Even reptiles who are quite closely related to us are seldom accepted. Snakes get a bad rap, and not too many people cuddle up with iguanas.
Go further afield and you will find very few people who think cockroaches are cute. Insects, in general don’t rate high on the likability scale.
So it is quite possible that we would perceive an alien creature as hideous. Hollywood and Ancient Alien enthusiasts always portray them as humanoid.
I believe that in the oceans of alien planets, there are fish-like creatures. That’s because a torpedo-shaped body is so superior in that environment that any time evolution takes a blind step in that direction, it is reinforced. So we have sharks and dolphins and the extinct reptile, ichthyosaur, with the same general body shape even though they last had a common ancestor hundreds of millions of years ago.
Some things work so well, evolution keeps re-inventing them.
The human form works well enough on this planet, but I don’t see it as a compelling design. It would be totally coincidental if alien creatures even had four limbs.
There’s a reason I keep C&H on my main comics page, even though it only ran for ten years and I’ve seen every strip many times. This one is well-written and beautifully drawn — not to mention just plain funny!
Soon enough Spiff will start to find those odd protuberances on the creature’s chest strangely attractive and alluring…even, he might say, irresistible…
Man, I remember when the Calvin & Hobbes Sunday comic would take up half the page in a real newspaper. Even gocomics shrinks their comic pages, it seems…..
BE THIS GUY over 2 years ago
Calvin, do you want to know where you rate on Susie’s bizarrotron?
dadthedawg Premium Member over 2 years ago
Oh, you girls are all alike…..
Robin Harwood over 2 years ago
They are weird.
C over 2 years ago
Cooties
codycab over 2 years ago
Should we listen to the one who has been called “Weirdo” who also says things like “ZOUNDS!”?
jagedlo over 2 years ago
“ugly” now, but wait a few years…
Little Caesar over 2 years ago
Great moons of Neptune!
sirbadger over 2 years ago
Wait until he is a teenager and he moves in for a closer look.
Dr. Quatermass over 2 years ago
“Weirdness is Nature’s way of adapting to its environment.” It’s certainly been weird in the last few years! BTW, I knew it was gonna be Susie Derkins!
Susan00100 over 2 years ago
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Great art, Bill!!
jvo over 2 years ago
“Gurl”, means something quite different now, the comic has a whole new twist :D
The Reader Premium Member over 2 years ago
I think all comics should clearly display their weirdness levels.
sandpiper over 2 years ago
Love Cal’s fantasy trips. A real break from the usual. Also love the art.
PoodleGroomer over 2 years ago
The Bizarrotron needs intermittent field recalibrations. There is a pack of DVDs in the console. Start with “Rocky Horror” and “Tremors”.
BigDaveGlass over 2 years ago
Women are from Venus, Men are from Mars. Both very inhospitable planets. Make of that what you will……
uniquename over 2 years ago
3.7 weirdness level. Somehow I knew it would be Suzie.
dflak over 2 years ago
We humans are very prejudiced towards other lifeforms. The further the lifeform is from us, the less we like it.
Mammals are generally accepted: kittens and puppies are cute. However the further away you go on the life tree, the less likely it is that humans will accept an organism.
Even reptiles who are quite closely related to us are seldom accepted. Snakes get a bad rap, and not too many people cuddle up with iguanas.
Go further afield and you will find very few people who think cockroaches are cute. Insects, in general don’t rate high on the likability scale.
So it is quite possible that we would perceive an alien creature as hideous. Hollywood and Ancient Alien enthusiasts always portray them as humanoid.
I believe that in the oceans of alien planets, there are fish-like creatures. That’s because a torpedo-shaped body is so superior in that environment that any time evolution takes a blind step in that direction, it is reinforced. So we have sharks and dolphins and the extinct reptile, ichthyosaur, with the same general body shape even though they last had a common ancestor hundreds of millions of years ago.
Some things work so well, evolution keeps re-inventing them.
The human form works well enough on this planet, but I don’t see it as a compelling design. It would be totally coincidental if alien creatures even had four limbs.
Just-me over 2 years ago
Susie has a great deal of restraint. She was well positioned to pop Calvin in the eye.
vaughnrl2003 Premium Member over 2 years ago
Fascinating.
Steverino Premium Member over 2 years ago
Reading this comic got me spaced out.
Will_Scarlet over 2 years ago
Also, SPIFF is technically the ‘alien’ in this scenario.
txmystic over 2 years ago
I love the art in this one. Zounds!!
formathe over 2 years ago
Seems odd indeed. Has anyone here actually married a person they grew up with. No one in Alabama need answer.
tripwire45 over 2 years ago
I love the Spaceman Spiff stories.
Otis Rufus Driftwood over 2 years ago
Weird is a matter of opinion. And for some kids this may just be a phase.
KEA over 2 years ago
Watterson must have had some strange nightmares as a kid.
g04922 over 2 years ago
Where is Hobbes when we need him the most. Mom must have forgotten Calvin’s morning meds… LOL
Daltongang Premium Member over 2 years ago
Worse case of girl cooties I ever saw.
xSigoff Premium Member over 2 years ago
Calvin must live in Southern California.
llevikhin over 2 years ago
oh Calvin…. puberty will come as a really big surprise….
paullp Premium Member over 2 years ago
There’s a reason I keep C&H on my main comics page, even though it only ran for ten years and I’ve seen every strip many times. This one is well-written and beautifully drawn — not to mention just plain funny!
StevePappas over 2 years ago
Zounds, hilarious!
kathleenhicks62 over 2 years ago
Is she really a 5.6?
Realimaginary1 Premium Member over 2 years ago
In all fairness, we all look strange when examined under a microscope.
wiley207 over 2 years ago
Heh, the “gurl” looks more like Calvin staring at Susie!
Holden Awn over 2 years ago
Soon enough Spiff will start to find those odd protuberances on the creature’s chest strangely attractive and alluring…even, he might say, irresistible…
mindjob over 2 years ago
I wonder if the bizarrotron works with smells. Surely boys will rate lower than gurls.
capgras1000 over 2 years ago
Isn’t the artwork amazing? I can’t think of any other cartoonist who comes anywhere close to Waterson.
mistercatworks over 2 years ago
Fortunately, at a certain age, they begin generating pheromones and everything changes. :)
I knew a woman whom I secretly referred to as “The Shadow”, because she had “the power to cloud men’s minds.” Like the hero of the 1930s radio series.
ron over 2 years ago
Just wait a few years and that creature will become one of the most desirable in the Universe.
moondog42 Premium Member over 2 years ago
Man, I remember when the Calvin & Hobbes Sunday comic would take up half the page in a real newspaper. Even gocomics shrinks their comic pages, it seems…..
Stephen Gilberg over 2 years ago
At least this was one of the few times Spiff didn’t deem an alien worth attacking.
rshive over 2 years ago
Spiff’s Field Guide may need revision.
Templo S.U.D. over 2 years ago
What threat could a gurl be to the universe, Spiff?
edeloriea14 over 2 years ago
Calvin would crush the “weirdness scale”!
briggs.roy078 over 2 years ago
I’m with Spiffy on that one! Gurls? Ewwwwwwwwww!
johnec over 2 years ago
Vive l’ wierdness!!!
Le'Roy Hawkins over 2 years ago
“Gurl” means something else today, but still weird and hideous.