Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for March 01, 2023

Susie will deny Calvin 3 times before Mrs. Wormwood tells the class to put down the pencils the second time.

Susie is technically right. Calvin is unpredictable.

I would be honored to live on the same street as the mighty Stupendous Man.

Who doesn’t know Calvin better than Susie Derkins?

His reputation precedes him

‘Who despises buys’ says an old Italian saying.

“Mild mannered”???

Apply those stupendous powers of concentration!

“Candace”? So this strip is set in California which is my home state or Utah which is the home state for my church.

“He’s kind of your boyfriend, isn’t he Susie?”

Dork!

Mom, can we move to a different street?

It’s not everyone who can say that they live right down the street from STUPENDOUS MAN (Ta-Daa-dum!).

Fortunately.

Mild mannered? Calvin is as mild mannered as Dennis the Menace

Mild-mannered my donkey.

Who’s this????

So when Stupendous Man fails the test, Calvin will have deniability?

Aaaak! By this time, Mrs. Wormwood is probably having palpitations and the class is stunned by Calvin’s obnoxious behavior!

Reality check, “Stupendous Man”! People can see your striped shirt!

When I was in kindergarten in the late 1950s, I was the only kid wearing glasses and I got bullied a lot. Then I told the kids that Clark Kent wore glasses and turned into Superman. That turned it around (true story).

Watterson has very few characters in his strips and even fewer of them have names. So Candice is special.

As far as I know only one character has both a first and last name: Susie Derkins.

Calvin is more like Stupidentious Mam

Good idea, Susie, try to distance yourself as far away from the delusional twerp in the goofy mask and cape.

Well, so much for the secret identity bit…

I’m impressed with Calvin’s lungs. Being able to say all that while flying through the air. He’d be a great deep-sea diver.

I often wonder, if Calvin had had the right kind of teacher that would embrace his imagination and channeled that creativity into being more productive, his school life may have been much different. Then again, it is Calvin… haha! Maybe not!

Calvin at this point has no clue that he’s destroying his future dating potential.

He’ll be voted most likely to live on the street .

guilt by association?

Calvin was once teased by Moe for playing with Susie while other kids were playing baseball. Today, Susie seems to be being judged for living close to Calvin’s house. Both Calvin and Susie see each other as weird and seem to be the nearest each other has to a friend at school. Most pupils seem to consider them both weird.

Supposedly hates girls, yet he can’t imagine girls might not be crazy about him…

The second panel is the only time we see how Stupendous Man imagines himself in this story arc. And the third panel was also adapted into a full-color illustration for the “Homicidal Psycho Jungle Cat” book collection that includes this story arc.

Stupendous Man doesn’t seem to have a very big fan club.

Just because someone lives in your street doesn’t mean you know them well. Although for this case, I understand Susie perfectly.

I always like the detail of the costume in real life being only a cape and a hood, while in Calvin’s imagination, it’s a full-body suit.

It appears that Calvin has been spending quite a bit of time on Ballard Strreet!

The old Trump tactic.

Susie: Everybody on GoComics thinks we’re going to get married, but that’s just not true!

Candace has always fascinated me. And Susie.. you don’t. Let him be him.

I didn’t realize till this reread that while Calvins actions are of course over the top.. ms wormwoods reactions paint a larger issue with the school system, i.e. trying to just punish calvin constantly instead of figuring out WHY he acts out. I mean sometimes it’s because he just genuinely hates school and tha’ts fair. Other times he’s just obnoxious. He has layers. It makes me glad I had exactly one teacher who was resentful of having to deal with someone with autisim and was stuck in her terrible ways (picture ms wormwood without calvin constantly provoking her or genuinely being disruptive or half doing his work and you can see why i’m glad it was just one) .

At least he went back to the classroom!

Odd as how when he’s Stupendous Man, Calvin thinks the girls are into him.