Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for May 06, 2021

The inside of his eyelids.

I just took a nice long…..nap.

why bother asking?

A drawing apparently!

His watch.

A boy screwing around as usual.

Was this a very early strip? The artwork looks different.

Aside from napping, cats watch ghosts on the wall, and other things that move around in interesting ways.

Same thing I watch every night, you getting into trouble.

Watched a pencil move under my hands.

He stayed awake all night lying beside you thinking about the Food Network.

Hobbes has his own interests. Doing artwork, learning, math!

Myself drawing a picture….

If you look at the prints under Hobbes’ feet that will tell you that it is a very early strip. In the later strips Bill Watterson omitted the paw prints.

I was sitting in the bed of my friend’s pickup watching a lightning storm far off in FL. You can see them a long way away and it was fascinating. He comes out of the camper and asks me if I don’t want to come in and watch Judge Wapner!! No, thank you!

Tiger pórn.

Huh. I have found that I really don’t have much to say if I don’t watch the same show, game or movie that my peers are watching. Being ignorant of the topical mush and nonsense on TV leaves me socially isolated. Odd, how that works. Oh well, back to tiktok.

This reprint ties in very well with Sunday’s reprint.

These days, the only thing I carefully watch is my weight. Sometimes, my tongue… :D

I am currently reading a dictionary of folklore written by someone called Katherine Briggs. It includes an entry on “Hobs” which are defined as “kindly, beneficient but sometimes mischievous spirits”. This fits in well with Hobbes. I accept that Bill Watterson named Hobbes after Thomas Hobbes who also had a dim view of human nature but Hobbes and “Hobs” also go well together. Someone suggested about two years ago that Hobbes is “Calvin’s animal spirit guardian” and I replied that Hobbes is more like a friendly, mischievous spirit than a spirit guardian.

Yesterday, I commentator called Brian replied to one of my statements claiming that “it’s never clear” what I believe Hobbes to be. I have tried to explain before that I started out by assuming that Hobbes is only alive in Calvin’s imagination but started to suspect that I had been wrong about this as I noticed that Hobbes seems to be a quicker thinker than Calvin and to plan ahead unlike Calvin. Also he makes sarcastic comments about Calvin which Calvin often fails to get.

I finally accepted that Hobbes isn’t meant to be imaginary in 1992 when I read that Watterson had been asked whether Hobbes is real or not and had replied “More real than any kid can make up I think”. I have quoted this before and Brian has told me “Watterson was wrong. Calvin has a very vivid imagination.”

I agree that both Calvin and Bill Watterson have very vivid imaginations but I think that Bill Watterson understands both Calvin and Hobbes very well and is right to feel that he has made Hobbes too intelligent and mature to be a figment of Calvin’s imagination. He has also said that Calvin is largely based on his “immaturity as an adult” whereas Hobbes often shows far more maturity than Calvin so Watterson shows more maturity through Hobbes than through Calvin.

As I say above, Hobbes may be a friendly, mischievous spirit. Alternatively, he may have been created through a stuffed toy, Calvin’s imagination and a psychic power but is independent of Calvin’s imagination and has a quicker wit than Calvin although Calvin is more innovative than Hobbes.

YOU, HA HA!

“I watch my dinner, sleeping peacefully beside me in the bed…”

[Sound of Calvin unable to sleep, worried expression on his face]

DUH!

I watched a six-year-old’s brain atrophy…it was fascinating…

You’d think they could just skip over the re-reruns, but maybe that’s how the contract reads.

Hobbes only likes nature documentaries :P

The stars?

I want to know what Hobbes did watch!

While one of my current cats will watch TV with me, I had one cat who was always encouraging me to do stuff. He would come in hinting it was time for a walk, several times a day. He had his own cat flap and was perfectly capable of walking on his own but we both had more fun when we went walking together.

Pretty sure you could ask almost any kid that question today and they’d have a lengthy response.

OK Calvin, just how would Hobbes watch TV without you ?

“My prey…”

(^•ᴥ•^)

Yah, this one goes waaaaaay back.

“I watched you…. as you slept…”

For the benefit of @Calvinist1966

Calvin, Hobbes, and the rest of the characters in the strip are creatures of Bill Watterson’s imagination. He allegedly was intentionally ambiguous regarding the nature of his Hobbes character so that readers could use their own imaginations.

For your amusement, I will mention that my spouse has suggested that Hobbes could be seen as a ‘pooka’ (púca), like Harvey in the play and film of the same name. It makes as much sense as most of the other interpretations offered, and has an entertainingly whimsical air to it.

Please feel free to interpret the characters however you like. That is part of the enduring fun of the strip. :)

Hobbes: “I was watching you. Day-dreaming of how I could marinate you, then borrow your Dad’s BBQ and roast you over an open flame.” Bwa ha ha ha ha.

Man, I miss this strip.

repost

An early Watterson critique of our media-saturated culture. Not much else I can add.