Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for April 02, 2024

To avoid cleaning the bathtub afterwards, Mom should hose him down in the backyard.

Was that really your plan, Calvin?

A real chimney sweep sings and dances and talks in a bad Cockney accent.

At least he’ll enjoy the bath this time.

Run him through the car wash.

You need to rethink your hiding places, Calvin.

Who’s gonna clean the huge bathtub ring??

Calvin hides in the chimney to avoid a bath?? Not one of the better thought-out ideas.

Soot yourself.

He would have got up further, but Dick Van D yke was blocking the way…..

C’mon lady, just throw him outside and get the hose. Worked with Bill the Cat in that one Bloom County episode. ACKK PHBBPPT!

Something that no one has commented on is that all the soot is on Calvin. There is no soot on the floor and no soot on Hobbes. Obviously, there is no soot on the floor as Mom had already filled the bath and she then searched for Calvin, got angry and called him and then got herself sooty carrying him to the bath.

My explanation for why there is no soot on Hobbes is one which many readers will share but many other readers will refuse to accept. Hobbes walked to the bathroom to join Calvin there after Mom placed Calvin in the bath. If Mom comes back into the bathroom and sees Hobbes there, she will wonder yet again how he could have got there and whether he really could have walked.

One reader did point that out as an explanation for why Mom called to Hobbes when she and Dad were searching for him back in 1988. The reader pointed out that Mom spends a lot of time in the house with Hobbes while Calvin is in school so she will have many subconscious memories of Hobbes moving around without Calvin.

Good luck will rub off when he shakes hands with you.

When I was his age, my brother and I would sneak down to the basement to climb up and slide down the coal pile.

Egad!

What made you think it was a good idea to hide the chimney?!

Chim chimineyChim chimineyChim chim cher-oo!

I’m thinking power washer here

Though I’m covered with soot

From me ’ead to me toes

A sweep knows ’e’s welcome

Wherever ’e goes

Chim chiminey

Chim chiminey

Chim chim cher-ee!

When you’re with a sweep

You’re in glad company

Be better to wrap him in an old sheet and take him to the car wash unwrap him and use the power washer.

OMG, Calvin, whatever possessed you? You’re going to need more than one bath to get the soot off!

And the Oscar for best film of the year goes to: Calvin’s Bathtub.

I thought chimney sweeps were supposed to be lucky. (Sigh) Once again Disney delights the child and disappoints the adult.

Hobbes was not involved in the crime…. no soot on him.

Oh my! I don’t remember ever seeing this one. Snorted coffee out my nose!

One of the funniest bath strips ever! It came to my mind when playing the “Richard Scarry’s Busytown” MS-DOS game, during the “Building the House” activity when you can have Huckle Cat go up the chimney! Though while his face doesn’t get as dirty as Calvin’s, it’s still really funny.

The bath water will look just like " ink " after Calvins bath : )

Calvin is in for it! Whatever ‘it’ Mom decides to do to him.

I guess the chimney is all cleaned out now

8^)

Um… hello! Get it clean! Catch the groove, mom.

Could you imagine having a monster like him?

Anybody ever read “The Roly-Poly Pudding,” by Beatrix Potter (of Peter Rabbit fame)? It’s about a kitten who does exactly this: hides in the chimney to escape bath time. He gets caught by enormous rats who roll him in pastry and are about to cook him when a little dog saws a hole in the attic floor and rescues him.

That look suets him

Santa Clalvin

Step in Time.

The chimney is the last place to hide to avoid a bath.

At least it’s swept NOW