Calvin and Hobbes

Calvin and Hobbes is a daily American comic strip created by cartoonist Bill Watterson that was syndicated from November 18, 1985 to December 31, 1995. Commonly cited as "the last great newspaper comic", Calvin and Hobbes has enjoyed broad and enduring popularity, influence, and academic and philosophical interest.

Characters
Character descriptions from Bill Watterson.

Calvin
Calvin is a 6-year-old mischievous boy named for a sixteenth-century theologian who believed in predestination. Most people assume that Calvin is based on a son of mine, or based on detailed memories of my own childhood. Also, Watterson doesn’t have children, and he was a fairly quiet, obedient kid, almost Calvin’s opposite. One of the reasons that Calvin’s character is fun to write is that Watterson often doesn’t agree with him.

Calvin is autobiographical in the sense that he thinks about the same issues that Watterson does, but in this, Calvin reflects Watterson’s adulthood more than his childhood. Many of Calvin’s struggles are metaphors for Watterson’s own. He suspects that people get old without growing up, and that inside every adult (sometimes not very far inside) is a bratty kid who wants everything his own way. Watterson uses Calvin as an outlet for my immaturity, as a way to keep myself curious about the natural world, as a way to ridicule my own obsessions, and as a way to comment on human nature. Watterson wouldn’t want Calvin in his house, but on paper, he helps me sort through my life and understand it.

Hobbes
Hobbes is Calvin’s stuffed tiger named after a seventeenth-century philosopher with a dim view of human nature, Hobbes has the patient dignity and common sense of most animals Watterson has met. Hobbes was very much inspired by one of Watterson’s cats, a gray tabby named Sprite. Sprite not only provided the long body and facial characteristics for Hobbes, she also was the model for his personality. She was good-natured, intelligent, friendly, and enthusiastic in a sneaking-up-and-pouncing sort of way. Sprite suggested the idea of Hobbes greeting Calvin at the door in midair at high velocity.

With most cartoon animals, the humor comes from their humanlike behavior. Hobbes stands upright and talks of course, but Watterson tries to preserve his feline side, both in his physical demeanor and his attitude. His reserve and tact seem very catlike to me, along with his barely contained pride in not being human. Like Calvin, Watterson often prefers the company of animals to people, and Hobbes is my idea of an ideal friend. The so-called “gimmick” of my strip—the two versions of Hobbes—is sometimes misunderstood. Watterson doesn’t think of Hobbes as a doll that miraculously comes to life when Calvin’s around. Neither does he think of Hobbes as the product of Calvin’s imagination. Calvin sees Hobbes one way, and everyone else sees Hobbes another way. Watterson shows two versions of reality, and each makes complete sense to the participant who sees it. He thinks that’s how life works. He doesn’t sees the world exactly the same way, and he draws that in the strip. Hobbes is more about the subjective nature of reality than about dolls coming to life.

Calvin’s Parents
Watterson has never given Calvin’s parents names, because as far as the strip is concerned, they are important only as Calvin’s mom and dad.

Calvin’s dad has been rumored to be a self-portrait. All of Watterson’s characters are half him, so it’s true in some ways, but Calvin’s dad is also partly a satire of his own father. Any strip about how suffering “builds character” is usually a verbatim transcript of Watterson’s dad’s explanations for why we were all freezing, exhausted, hungry, and lost on camping trips. These things are a lot funnier after twenty-five years have passed.

Calvin’s mom is the daily disciplinarian, a job that taxes her sanity, so Watterson doesn’t think we get to see her at her best. Watterson regrets that the strip mostly shows her impatient side, but he tries to hint at other aspects of her personality and her interests by what she’s doing when Calvin barges in. The readers usually only see Calvin’s parents when they’re reacting to Calvin, so as secondary characters, Watterson has tried to keep Calvin’s parents realistic, with a reasonable sense of humor about having a kid like Calvin. He thinks they do a better job than he would.

Susie Derkins
Susie Derkins is an earnest, serious, and smart girl - the kind of girl Watterson was attracted to in high school and eventually married. “Derkins” was the nickname of Watterson’s wife’s family’s beagle. He suspects Calvin has a mild crush on her that he expresses by trying to annoy her, but Susie is a bit unnerved and put off by Calvin’s weirdness. This encourages Calvin to be even weirder, so it’s a good dynamic. Neither of them quite understands what’s going on, which Watterson thinks is true about most relationships.

Miss Wormwood
As a few readers guessed, Miss Wormwood is Calvin’s elderly 1st grade teacher named after the apprentice devil in C.S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters. Watterson has a lot of sympathy for Miss Wormwood. People see hints that she’s waiting to retire from Calvin’s school, that she smokes too much, and that she takes a lot of medication. Watterson thinks she seriously believes in the value of education, so needless to say, she’s an unhappy person.

Moe
Moe is a bully in Calvin’s school and is every jerk Watterson has ever known. He is big, dumb, ugly, and cruel. Watterson remembers his school that had bullies like Moe. He thinks they spawn on damp locker room floors.

Rosalyn
Rosalyn is the only person Watterson thinks Calvin fears is his babysitter. Watterson put her in a Sunday strip early on, never thinking of her as a regular character, but her intimidation of Calvin surprised Watterson, so she’s made a few appearances since. Rosalyn even seems to daunt Calvin’s parents, using their desperation to get out of the house to demand advances and raises. Rosalyn’s relationship with Calvin is pretty one-dimensional, so babysitter stories get harder and harder to write, but for a later addition to the strip, she’s worked pretty well.

About the author: Bill Watterson
Bill Watterson is the creator of Calvin and Hobbes, one of the most popular and well-regarded strips of the twentieth century. Watterson drew the strip from its debut run on November 18, 1985. In 1986, Watterson became the youngest person to win the prestigious Reuben Award for “Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year” from the National Cartoonists Society. He won the award again in 1988, and was also nominated for the honor in 1992.