Calvin and Hobbes redux

Calvin and Hobbes has been one of the most popular comic strips for decades. The story details the adventures of an imaginative young boy named Calvin, and his pet tiger, Hobbes. The comic strip ran  all over the world in more than 2400 papers from 1985 to 1996.

In its first year, the strip was picked up by 250 newspapers.  The number soared after
the Los Angeles Times started running it; just 16 months after it was first printed. The cartoon strip earned its cartoonist, Bill Watterson, two Reuben Awards that are given out annually by the National Cartoonists Society, in the category of “Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year” in both 1986 and 1988.
During the series run, 3,160 total strips were created, prior to 1995 when Watterson retired his little creations. The strips have been complied and printed in a series of 18 books that have sold 45 million copies.  Reruns of the original cartoons first appeared in newspapers in 2010.

 The strips feature the entertaining adventures of a six year old boy and a pet Tiger, which is actually a stuffed animal. The story lines include sledding rides and trips to the beach as well as hundreds of comical jokes that are played on all characters featured in the strips. Most of the strips feature just Calvin and Hobbes - but there are a number of other characters; such as Calvin’s parents and Susie Derkins, one of Calvin’s classmates, Moe, a bully at Calvin’s school, Miss Wormwood, Calvin’s teacher, as well as Rosalyn, Calvin’s babysitter. The panels are generally realistic; however, there are a few which feature the trip of Calvin and Hobbes into outer space and back to prehistoric times.

Calvin and Hobbes: The Characters

As the title denotes, the Calvin and Hobbes cartoon strip features two main characters, Calvin and Hobbes. Calvin is a young six year old imaginative and curious boy who quite often, is a bit selfish. The story spotlights Calvin's adventures with his pet tiger, known as Hobbes. (In reality, Hobbes is just a stuffed animal which resembles a tiger). Hobbes is a more responsible and rational figure in the series; however, he goes along with all of Calvin’s troublemaking schemes and plots.

Calvin’s parents, teacher, babysitter, as well as a classmate and the class bully are all present in some scenes. Calvin’s parents are unnamed and referred to only as “Mom” and “Dad”. They resemble the typical American parent, allowing Calvin to use his imagination and play with Hobbes, while still expressing concerns of the safety of their son as well as trying to teach him responsibility and the importance of performing well in school.

Calvin’s Teacher is known as Miss. Wormwood and is Calvin’s first grade teacher in every comic strip. She is old and strict and is a heavy smoker just waiting to retire.

Calvin’s babysitter, known as Rosalyn, is the only baby sitter who puts up with Calvin’s mischievous behaviour and thus uses the grief of having to deal with these antics as justification for raises in pay.

 Susie Derkins is one of Calvin’s first grade classmates and a close neighbour. She is a very intelligent girl who gets perfect grades. Calvin and Susie are traditional first grade boy-girl enemies and Calvin plays many practical jokes on Susie. Underneath this relationship, it is suspected that Calvin may have a crush on Susie. Finally, the last character which is presented in this comic strip is Moe, the class bully who is often regarded as the only first grader who has to shave. He is the traditional school bully taking Calvin’s money and lunches and constantly shoving him and dropping his books.