40 years ago, Calvin and Hobbes' raucous adventures burst onto the comics page
17 comments
·November 20, 2025HeinzStuckeIt
dbatten
At least based on some of the things he's written in some of the anthologies, it seems like a lot of that disillusionment was not just because of age, but rather because of his battles with the publishers and what not that were pushing him to make changes that he felt would compromise the integrity of the strip. A lot of the comics include subtle jabs about corporate greed, artistic integrity, etc. because he was actively fighting with the corporations that distributed his strip over such matters...
Still, 100% agreed that he stopped at the right time, both because of the creeping cynicism, but also simply because he was running out of fresh ideas...
h2zizzle
Growing up, we had collected volumes of Calvin and Hobbes, Garfield, and The Boondocks. Surprisingly good bedfellows. Covered the bases, so to speak.
cons0le
The Boondocks is probably the most witty cartoon ever made. It still holds up because we've largely not advanced as a society
WillAdams
I can still remember choosing between the morning or evening paper based on which included _Calvin and Hobbes_, so it certainly worked to sell papers.
The boxed collection is wonderful, and one of my favourites.
For folks who want a bit more, there have been a couple of homages:
"Hobbes and Bacon": https://imgur.com/gallery/all-hobbes-bacon-by-pants-are-over... --- a bit too on-the-nose for my taste, which doesn't really add anything
"Calvin and Company" by DomNX, wherein Calvin and Susie have twins named after Albert Camus and Simone de Beauvoir --- art not fully realized/up to the task, and again, all a bit too obvious
There was also one simply heart-breaking one, where Calvin has cancer, gets a decrepit Hobbes out of storage, and gifts him to a troubled grandchild, but not finding it on searching....
The thing is, laughing at problems, while cathartic, isn't actually inspiring folks to actually understand/solve problems/make the world a better place.... I'm reminded of a comic from childhood where a child sees duck hunters as part of the reason why a forest is clearcut for a development, instead of the reason why such land is preserved (the Pa. State Game Commission manages over 1.5 million acres) or, maybe I'm just overly pessimistic this morning because of intractable problems where people choose wrongly, mostly through not understanding the problem/ignorance/lack of sympathy for others --- classic example, drivers in cars who get upset because following a cyclist causes them slow down on their way to a red light --- rather a shame that the strips featuring Calvin's father as a cyclist weren't didactic so as to show/discuss that sort of thing, rather than going for the laugh.
minihat
I think the comic achieves something deeper than a lecture. The humor might reconnect us with a sense of awe we often lose as adults.
adolph
> The boxed collection is wonderful, and one of my favourites.
And it still holds up for kids of today. My son is a second gen Calvin and Hobbes kid.
SanjayMehta
> There was also one simply heart-breaking one, where Calvin has cancer, gets a decrepit Hobbes out of storage, and gifts him to a troubled grandchild, but not finding it on searching....
Are you sure this was a comic? It's a story someone wrote, available on Scribd.
fruitplants
Calvin's dad was quite a character, wasn't he?
andix
My favorite Calvin and Hobbes reference: https://xkcd.com/409/
There are even more on xkcd: https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Category:Calvin_a...
conartist6
smbc-comics has done a whole slew of C+H inspired strips with two kids out having a deep but strage philosophical conversation. It's very difficult to actually find anything you're looking for in the SMBC archives though... E.g. https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/qualia
gazook89
Zach Weinersmith’s Beawolf graphic novel is basically an ode to Calvin. He has a new book coming out soon, too.
elicash
My own personal favorites: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XryL7duzj_WZEy0dtdDO48_s...
olau
The ones about Calvin having an awful day due to what's demanded of him are honestly heartbreaking.
jmclnx
1985, I thought they were around a lot longer.
I remember people at work talking about that comic and loving it. But the my City Newspaper did not carry it :(
I can see it now in gocomics and it is great.
avalys
I always figured that Calvin grew up to be Elon Musk.
IMO, Watterson stopped at just the right time to preserve his legacy and keep the strip associated with childlike wonder and innocence. In the last years of C&H there was a certain curmudgeonliness creeping in, as Waterson started to mock modern commerce and art. I think the cartoonist was naturally growing older and more disillusioned, and his strip faintly started to sound like Calvin’s dad instead of Calvin.