Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for February 06, 2020

Some dames leave you in the lurch when you need them the most.

tough luck, Tracer

Wonder what other dames he can ask for help from.

Too bad Calvin isn’t pretending to be a diabolical villain trying to force the answer out of Susie.

That went about as well as expected.

So that’s what happened

That Derkins dame sure got his number.

No luck at Suzie’s. Tracer needs to find a matchbook with a phone number in it.

Note the cars in the first frame. Period perfect.

A swing and a miss, Calvin!

Pure poetry

If you don’t ask, you don’t get…

That Derkins dame is a little more pugnacious than she looks.

great, now you know she’s going to rat you out to the authorities!

Will she sing? Certainly not for you, Tracer!

The writing in these Bullet strips is just so, SO amazing. “A face that suggested somebody upstairs had a weird sense of humor. But I wasn’t going to her place for laughs” is magnificent noir, while also being comedic.

Calvin was rather misleading in saying that he and Susie sometimes hit one another. He only hits her with snowballs and usually misses. She’s much better at throwing snowballs than he is but usually hits him with her fists.

Maybe Tracer can sweat it out of Susie under a hot light.

Susie doesn’t sing very well.

Calvin channeling Spillane and Hammett; with maybe a soupcon of Runyan just for fun. {-:

This artwork is great

Some of Watterson’s best work, IMO.

It’s a shame Tracer Bullet didn’t appear more. He only appeared in two arcs and his debut strip.

Terrific arc!

I love how the tough guy looks in the last panel!

It’s 15 miles.

“Suddenly I heard the steps of the authorities hurtling at me like a stampede of maddened elephants – the jig was up!”

The interesting thing is the problem posed while not a difficult one is more similar to problems children might first see in sixth or seventh grade, some children may not see something at that level even until much later or not at all. It may be a quarter of the adults in the country could not solve it either.

Here, in a comic, its being presented to six year olds. I suspect it may be humor as well as satire woven in a subtle and humorous way.

I should try with the Rosalyn dame : she surely sings for money .

One of my favorite story archs..

Man these are amazing. Billy Watterson was a brilliant writer.

The answer is 15. I know that because someone else here provided it. Math is overrated when you have plentiful informants. : )

Miss Wormwood must have noticed that outburst.

I wish Watterson had done a whole book dedicated to Tracer Bullet.

Even the cars in panel #1 look like they are from the 30’s.

So much for the Derkins Dame!

Even though I’ve read these many times before, they’re still funny.

Um…No.