Happy Anniversary to Calvin and Hobbes! It was November 18, 1985 (I know, I'm a day late), that the precocious little boy and his sage stuffed tiger/real tiger first hit comic pages across America. So, I thought I'd hit you guys with a little C&H trivia... I know, it's not nearly enough to fill the void Bill Watterson has left us, but it's a little something.
Bill Watterson
Ever since he retired from Calvin and Hobbes, Watterson has been painting and “studying music”. He’s notoriously private and apparently hasn’t changed his lifestyle much. Up until fairly recently, he still lived in his hometown of Chagrin Falls, Ohio. Now he lives in Cleveland, not too far away. He doesn’t do pictures or autographs, not for anyone, although he used to sign copies of his books and slip them into a little family-owned bookstore in Chagrin Falls. He found out that people were eBaying them instead of tucking them away in their own private collections, though, and stopped that practice.
Calvin’s Older Brother?
Originally, Calvin and Hobbes were supposed to be minor characters in the strip Watterson was trying to syndicate. They were both the same as they are now – a little kid and his tiger – but were supposed to be only occasional characters. When he sent that strip to United Features, they suggested that he rework the whole thing to center around Calvin and Hobbes. So Watterson did. And United Features rejected the strip anyway. It was eventually snatched up by Universal Press Syndicate instead.
Licensing
You know those decals you see on trucks sometimes that have Calvin taking a whiz on the Chevy logo (or the Ford logo, or the BMW logo, or whatever)? So not legal. Actually, almost anything you see with Calvin and Hobbes on it is copyright infringement. Here is the complete list of things Bill Watterson has approved for mass production:
Watterson issued a cease-and-desist. Some of the makers complied and substituted a different (but similar) boy for Calvin, some replaced him with a female Calvin, and some just ignored him altogther. “I clearly miscalculated how popular it would be to show Calvin urinating on a Ford logo,” Watterson once said. Go here for a rather comprehensive site of all of the fake Calvin logos. It’s pretty impressive.
Namesakes
You can probably figure out where Calvin and Hobbes come from (I’ll go over that in a second) but lots of the other characters are inspired by real-life people too – or not-so-real-life people.
Calvin, of course, is named after John Calvin, the 16th century theologian who was a huge proponent of predestination. We don’t know Calvin’s last name. Watterson has said that people often assume that Calvin is based on his own childhood, but he disputes this fact and says that he was actually a very quiet, obedient kid.
Hobbes is named after Thomas Hobbes, who said that the natural state of humans was to be at war. Watterson has said that he feels Thomas Hobbes had a “dim view” of people. Hobbes’ feline characteristics were based on Watterson’s cat, Sprite.
Miss Wormwood got her name courtesy of C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters. In the C.S. Lewis tale, Wormwood is the nephew of an experienced demon and is being advised by his uncle on how to damn men to Hell.
Susie Derkins received her distinctive last name because “Derkins” was the nickname of Watterson’s wife’s family’s beagle.
It's the best cartoon ever! So lovable! My favorite parts is when Calvin does these horrible snowmen! :D
A star that falls to earth and poisons one third of the waters
that's the most awful thing i've heard in while.
Sincerely, Dan the atheist.
He made great popular art on his own terms, never sold out or cheapened his art, and walked away before it tired him or bored everyone else.
I remember when he decided the Sunday color comics needed more room to really tell his stories. Calvin and Hobbes was so popular that they had to deal with it. He wasn't just swinging power around, he just needed more room, and the market had to adjust...wonderful.
I don't why but I what really like is...
T-REX IN A F14!!!
:D
lol @ the s0d0mizing comment. Maybe he could get together with the naked mud-flap girl.
I'm still making my way through the complete collection, and I appreciate the extra tid-bits.
Calvin & Hobbes - Never Jumped the Shark!
Great idea for another copyright infringement t-shirt.
The reason the first two panels can be a standalone punchline is because in some newspapers, they allocate less space for C&H's Sunday comics, so they delete the header panel and the first two panels. Notice that the panels are also size proportioned so that without the header and the first two panels they can be rearranged from landscape to portrait layout (and reducing the size as well).
Of course C&H also occasionally made a single panel Sunday comic that could obviously *not* be resized. Watterson's decision to draw these single panel comics angered many editors.
You know something is a success if when it's over, people still want more.
For Christmas last year, my wife gave me "The complete Calvin and Hobbes collection" it is 3 large hardcover books and weighs in at nearly 50lbs. Every time I leaf through it, I end up in tears laughing. My wife things I'm insane....who am I to argue.
My favourite Calvin and Hobbes quote:
(Calvin and Hobbes standing over a tree-stump)
"Hobbes...sometimes I think that the surest sign that intellegent life exists elsewhere in the universe, is that none of it has tried to contact us."
Brilliant.
Mr. Waterson, you are a very insightful and funny, funny man.
I still read the books... to my kids. They've all grown up with me reading them Calvin stories - laughing hysterically (even though I've read them a dozen times over). Best comic strip 'ever' and I mean ever.
I can imagine reading them and laughing when I'm 80.
C&H fan for life.
...Taz holding a rebel flag... SHAME!
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY GUYS! :)
20 years later… my grandpa’s gone now and I still feel a warm bond with him every time I open up a Calvin & Hobbes book. Not only has Bill Watterson provided me with an endless source of humor, but with an endless source of nostalgia as well.
Happy Annivesary!
The year he graduated from our high school, the entire yearbook has pre-C&H imagery drawn all of it.
There's a desk, that I imagine is still there, that he drew all over and was shellacked and sat in Mr. Piai's History class. I was lucky enough to have it as my desk for 10th grade history (in 1990).
And if you look at the back cover of the 10th anniv book of Calvin & Hobbes, it shows Calvin as a giant walking through downtown Chagrin Falls, eating and destroying buildings.
Woohoo!
Weak.
Glad you all are around and I look
forward to see more of your work.
thanks from tony
I note your initials are "BS". Very subtle for a troll.
sure its possible that calvin is religious, but there's no way he'd ever willingly attend church until he was at least in his 20's. and even then he'd definitely attend a very liberal, open minded organization.
I expressed doubt that such blatant ripoffery could be legal. Her response was that it served a higher law than that of man. This was the same woman who firmly believed that in the future everyone will have RDI chips forcefully implanted in their hands (which made me giggle, because all I could think of was "Futurama" and how one had to have a career chip implanted in one's hand).
My favorite rip-off: a Spaceman Spliff t-shirt, seen at a Dead show years ago. Calvin and Hobbes were in desperate need of some eye drops. Too bad I've never been able to google a reference to it. The links all lead to some DJ.
While I respect Mr. Watterson's integrity by not "selling out", I do take exception with his not signing autographs. While it's true that some people will sell his signature on ebay, most people would truly treasure just having a memento from meeting him. I know some celebrities are upset that someone is making money from their autograph, but I think they're doing OK without this little extra income. I'm sorry, but he just sounds like a snob.
Apart from this statement which does not really warrant a separate post, a question: what's the deal with the Calvin-prays-at-the-cross sticker? Both the kid and the cross has a very sinister feeling; it does not really look the "loving Christian" at all.