TELEVISION
Like any kid in today's world, the TV rules Calvin's world. So obsessed is Calvin with the TV that he stays to watch the advertisements. The TV has always been portrayed through the eyes of a parent - that is, nothing worthwhile is ever shown on the 'idiot box' especially if you look at the way dad sees TV.
That, of course, does not discourage Calvin from worshipping the television or even at times, offering 'sacrifices'.


BED
Calvin has a long and deep relationship with his bed - not only is it a place where he sleeps, but he always lies on his bed after being sent to his room (which is frequent), and is continually petrified of the monsters lying underneath waiting for him. It appears that Calvin seldom does anything peaceful (like sleeping) in his bed. Instead it is more a place to plot revenge, sulk, hide from monsters or a place to battle with Hobbes.


CHEWING MAGAZINE
Every now and then, a new issue of chewing would show up in the mail for Calvin. Bill wrote the magazines into the strip as a way to make fun of his and most people's hobbies, some that go to the point of ridiculous and obsessive. I mean really, a gum chewing magazine?


FOOD
Calvin has a hate/hate relationship with his food. Not only does he detest the food that his mom prepares, but in his presence, the food takes on a life of its own - much to the distress of his mom and Susie. Calvin will also believe that his mom mixes paint, shrunken heads and what not, in preparing it, which makes him less likely to want to taste it, though in one you see him enjoying monkey heads, also known as roasted peppers.


BATHTUB
There are some constants in Calvin's life - one of them is his dislike of having a bath. Throughout the entire series, there is an ongoing battle between Calvin and his mom for him to have a bath - leading to one strip where Calvin had a rather novel approach to bathing. Mind you, once Calvin gets in a bath, his imagination runs riot again leading to some very funny strips and a few calling upon a plumber for help. As Calvin calculated once he spends approximately 4 entire days every year taking them.


WAGON
A magnificent piece of equipment! I'm thinking that it must have been built by Tonka Toys because there is no other way it could possibly survive the torment metted out by Calvin in his adventures in the woods - not to mention the occasional space journey to Mars.
Calvin's wagon is a simple device to add some physical comedy to the strip, and is most often used when Calvin gets longwinded or philosophical. I think the action lends a silly counterpoint to the text, and it's a lot more interesting to draw than talking heads. Sometimes the wagon ride even acts as a visual metaphor for Calvin's topic of discussion.
Calvin rides the wagon through the woods, bouncing off rocks and flying over ravines. [Bill] When I was a kid, our backyard dropped off into a big woods, but it was brambly and swampy, not like Calvin's, which seems to be more like a national forest. I was not a real outdoorsy kid, but occasionally I'd tramp out through the bush to map a pond, or try to see unusual birds and animals.
Calvin's woods is important to the strip, because it's the place where Calvin and Hobbes can get away from everyone and be themselves. The solitude of the woods brings out Calvin's small, but redeeming, contemplative side.


BICYCLE
We all have childhood memories of seeing people riding with effortless grace yet when we tried, the bike turned into a savage and untamed beast which was determined to kill and maim us. Well Calvin experiences the same fear of learning to ride, probably the thing Calvin fears most. It's always ready to run Calvin over, or, when Calvin is taught cycling by Dad, trying to throw him off. Calvin knows that riding the bike can be very handy to go to other places very easy, but he has yet to deal with his fear. He still thinks the bike is his worst enemy and takes every chance to let the air out of the tires, or tie his bike to a tree with all the ropes he can find. The big difference between our experiences and Calvin's is that our bikes don't stalk us into the house and through the night!


G.R.O.S.S. _{Get Rid Of Slimy girlS}
The Get Rid Of Slimy girlS is based on similar clubs my next-door neighbor and I formed when we were kids. Our mission was to harass neighborhood girls, but if they wouldn't come out, we'd often settle for harassing my brother. We prepared for a lot of great struggles that never happened. Once we gathered big hickory nuts, loaded them into a suitcase, locked it so nobody else could open it, and stashed it up high in a tree. When the Critical Moment came, we planned to scramble up the tree and unleash a hail of nuts upon our astonished pursuers. Six months later, when the leaves were down, we looked up and discovered the suitcase was still in the tree. The hinges had rusted, the nuts had rotted, and the suitcase was ruined. Our great plans often had this kind of boring anticlimax, which is why fiction comes in so handy.


DINOSAURS
The dinosaurs I put in Calvin and Hobbes have become one of my favorite additions to the strip. Dinosaurs have appeared in many strips before mine, but I like to think I've treated them with a little more respect than they've often received at the hands of cartoonists.
When I was Calvin's age, I had a nicely illustrated dinosaur book and some dinosaur models, so it was a natural step to have Calvin share that interest. The first dinosaurs I put in the strip were based on my childhood memories of them. Back in the 60's, dinosaurs were imagined as lumbering, dim-witted, cold-blooded, oversized lizards. That's how I drew them in the first strips, and these drawings are now pretty embarrassing to look at. when I realized that dinosaurs offered Calvin interesting story possibilities, I started searching for books to rekindle my interest in them. It was then I discovered what I'd missed in paleontology during the last twenty years.
Dinosaurs, I quickly learned, were wilder than anything I'd ever imagined. Tails up, with birdlike agility, these were truly the creatures of nightmares. My drawings began to reflect the new information, and with each new strip, I've tried to learn more and to depict dinosaurs more accurately. I do this partly for my own amusement, and partly because, for Calvin, dinosaurs are very, very real.
Dinosaurs have expanded Calvin's world and opened up some exciting graphic possibilities. The biggest reward for me, however, has been the fun I've had exploring a new interest. I enjoy dinosaurs more now than I did as a kid, and much of the job of being a cartoonist lies in keeping alive a sense of curiosity and wonder. Sometimes the best way to generate new ideas is to go out and learn something.


CALVINBALL
Calvin's favorite game. No rules, constantly changing punishments and songs, and you can use all type of equipment and scoring. Though, you will see other strips where they are playing other sports, eventually, all games will turn into Calvin Ball.


MONSTERS
Like most kids his age, he fears the monsters under the bed. One of the things Calvin fears most. Scary and hungry, they are always ready to eat him. He tries to avoid getting out of bed at night, for fear of being eaten, but in some strips you can see, the monsters will come and go, being there when Calvin's awake in bed, and not, when Calvin wants to get out for a drink or whatever.


CARDBOARD BOX
The greatest evidence to Calvin's imagination. Who else will turn a cardboard box into a robot, into a time machine to see the dinosaurs, into a transmorgifier, a duplicator, anything. In many ways it sums up the spirit of the strip, as Watterson says. I love the cardboard box strips, they show how a little (well, a lot really) imagination can take you everywhere.


SANTA
Santa strips are hilarious, because they are experiences that most people go through as kids who celebrate Christmas, and believed in Santa. I like to see how Calvin struggles to be good and avoid hitting Susie with snowballs. I like the letters Calvin wrote over the years also trying to get as many toys for Christmas possible.


SNOWMEN
Snowmen were used as a way to make fun of the art world. Watterson enjoys art, and has taken to painting since Calvin and Hobbes end, but as he said "the field certainly attracts its share of pretentious blowhards." [HA!] Either way I enjoy the snowman strips, mostly because they fascinate me, why, I don't know, there's something about seeing out of so many boring common looking ones, a kid who's at least doing something different and fun. BACK TO TOP

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