Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for May 20, 2023

”…kids with no common sense.”

Future Susie should remember that Calvin’s Mom warned her.

Saved by the mom!

Mom leads the calvery charge…..

Calvin gets a hint of how dumb his schemes are.

Mommus ex machina.

Made no sense to Mom, but then she’s not a little boy. Calvin should have faced his fear and earned the nickle.

Rats! Just when this is getting good, Mom appears.

Two minutes??? That’s too long with Calvin!

And Susie grew up to be a reality-TV producer.

A little parenting advice, mom: Blaming Susie for Calvin’s aggressive stupidity is just enabling him.

Good to see that Calvin is fond of his mum.

It’s good to see that Calvin is not that stupid.

This is the “victory” that posters have been predicting all week??

All that happened is Mom dissed Calvin in front of Susie!!

Of course he DOESN’T have sense if he doesn’t know he’s been insulted!!

Mom just saved Calvin from falling into the pit he dug to get the worms in the first place……

Another very good story arc that I fondly remember. I told people that the ending would be surprising and that it would be a good one. I also commented that it is one of Calvin’s few happy endings against Susie. I think that his expression in the last panel confirms this. I also stated that Susie would look puzzled at the end and that a question mark would appear over her head. I now see that it is an exclamation mark “!” rather than a question mark “?” Nonetheless, I remembered it very accurately. It is one of the few endings that leaves Susie baffled rather than triumphant or angry.

Now give me the worms, you can have them for supper.

I remember this a little differently: Suzy saying “Yes, ma’am. Sorry, ma’am.” Could be wrong, but has Watterson changed any of these for the reprints?

“Saved by the bell”

Susie was really going to watch him eat worms…aaaaacckkk!

Taking advantage of people with no common sense. It’s the bread and butter of all salespeople and politicians.

If kids and puppies are quiet, it is time to see what they are up to.

The ‘Mom [or Dad]’ reflex is built in and triggered automatically by a certain kind of silence. Without it, the population trend line would be shallower.

Calvin is too relieved to realize Mom just threw major shade.

He may have no common sense, but apparently he still has her nickel.

Mom got a hug! I wonder how long it’s been.

Mom has LEARNED well in the six years she has had Calvin……and also not to have anymore ! ! !

Wow, Suzie got in trouble. What a twist.

It seems that Mom got both Susie and Calvin in the same swoop.

It’s moments like this that will get Mom an upgrade in senior housing facilities.

The deus ex machina resolution of this arc isn’t very satisfying. Susie called his bluff. What’s funny is that Calvin loves to describe food in the most disgusting terms to Susie and his parents. Yet another example of Calvin’s imagination not holding up to the facts of reality.

Personally, I think people who want us to eat bugs and worms are off their rockers, but here’s a recipe if you’re so inclined https://www.eattheweeds.com/cooking-with-earthworms-2/

Uhh, mom, you need to check back to May 17th, panel 1. It was YOUR dufus kid that started it, not Susie. Gotta get your fact checking done.

Saint Susie gets a rare smackdown

When he gets home, he’ll try to get Dad to watch him eat worms for a quarter. :)

Well, that worked out better than I expected. Sometimes, “hold my beer” really means “hold me back”.

Mom to the rescue, every time.

I think mom was just like Susie when she was a kid. That was a backhanded compliment.

One of the best.

There was an earlier strip where Calvin said, “I have common sense. I just choose to ignore it.”

Now we know why Susie was so successful in writing screenplays for night time soap operas

Good as always…

Mom’s right. That worm is worth way more than a nickel, Susie!

Moms have a sixth sense for these kinds of things.

The part where Mom talks about Calvin is great; though I have heard common sense is not all that common. And two minutes is being a bit generous to Calvin.

Now begs the question: what would’ve Calvin bought with Susie’s five sense? Go to Lucy van Pelt’s psychiatric help booth in order to discuss how psychotic* Susie?

*Yes, I know psychiatry and psychology aren’t the same thing, but work with me here that Calvin doesn’t exactly know that.

A former patient graduated Kenyon College earlier this month. She joins other alums including, but not limited to, Paul Newman and Bill Watterson.

Usually Calvin’s parents seem so grumpy and unpleasant, and very cross with him. It’s weird to see her in nurturing mode, and even more to the point, to see Calvin recognize her as such. (Because I know his parents aren’t really that bad, it’s just that we’re seeing them through a distorted lens.)

Don’t take it too hard Susie, Mom doesn’t have much of it either.