r/calvinandhobbes

Ok, this is gonna be a bit of a long one, but I think context is necessary.

When I was very young, I was blonde, rambunctious, and precocious. My uncle, who was a fan of Clavin and Hobbes started referring to me as Calvin, buying me collections of the comics at every birthday. I grew out of my blonde into brown hair, but I never grew out of the love for Calvin and Hobbes.

I even wanted to name my son Calvin. That didn't come to pass, but when I say my two-year old son is the spitting image of Calvin, I say so as objectively as possible.

I want my next tattoo to symbolize that connection and bond. I have plenty of panels and images I can pull from to evoke that imagination, wit, and love for exploring. But I want to incorporate Dad somehow, establishing a connection between father and son, like he was once like that, looking over his son as he explores the world.

I have the whole collection and plan on dilligently parsing through it for panels, strips, or images. But I thought I would turn as I start to do so.

Does anyone have any ideas for panels or strips that would evoke that same feel?

Mine was aneurism. I didn't realize what it meant and one day my dad and me got into a fight and I said well I hope you have a debilitating brain aneurism. I didn't realize the shit storm that came afterwards and looked it up in the dictionary to find out why I got in so much trouble lol

I can't seem to upload the strip but it's the one where they find the baby raccoon and Calvin's mother is talking to Hobbs and confiding in him.

TL;DR: Ants love paper.

Like most of you here, I grew up on Calvin and Hobbes, and owned every individual book published. In 2022, I had packed up everything and moved from Texas to Washington State. I put all my childhood stuff in a big cardboard box, including yearbooks, collectibles, knick knacks, and my beloved Calvin and Hobbes books. This box was placed on an upper shelf in an outdoor shed for safe keeping.

Some of those knick knacks included old, unique soda cans and bottles (think drinks from foreign countries and other things an 11 year old would find cool). I don't know why I never threw these away, but they've been with me this far in life, so why not throw them in the box? Unfortunately, they must not have been washed well, and still had residual drink in them. You can probably see where this is going...

When we moved again in 2025, I took the box down from the shed and discovered that those cans were the ultimate attraction to a local ant colony, who made their home right there among my childhood memories for 3 years. Did you know ants pee and poop? I did not. Nearly everything in the box was destroyed, soaked in ant...juice...covered in eggs, and partially eaten by the swarm. This included my beloved Calvin and Hobbes books.

I had to throw nearly everything away, only able to keep my 2nd grade yearbook and Yukon Ho! I'm more devastated about the C&H books than anything else, even though they can be replaced. I was excited to read these to my future kids, or show my fiancee what I grew up reading. I'm sure they'll be easy to find again, and I'll probably find the collection on sale one day...but they won't be the same books I had from when I was a kid.

There's no real point to this post, other than to vent a bit. I love this subreddit, and hope we're soon able to share C&H comics again. It made my day to open reddit and see a few strips that reminded me of simpler times. Hope everyone here has a great day...and don't store your books outside next to a bunch of old sugar.

My cousin lives in Chagrin Falls a few blocks north of the town center and my wife and I go see them any chance we get from 900 miles away. The town, the nature, everything about it seems to fit BW's depiction of Calvin's childhood and his adventures.

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I didn't even learn BW grew up there until our second visit when the bookstore in town had such a good collection of his work. When the worker told me, I was blown away. Calvin and Hobbes was a massive part of my childhood and it felt like I had accidentally made a pilgrimage to pay homage, lol.

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If you get the chance, go see the town. It's worth it.

I couldnt find a better place to ask, but I recall seeing a Watterson landscape painting a while ago, and havent been able to find it, or any other of his other works. I know it wouldnt be for sale, so Id have to print it myself, but wondered if anyone might have know where to look (Google searches have failed me)

Thanks!

Hello fans -

My dad was a huge C&H fan, and 20 years ago, I inherited his collection of books. They have sadly just sat around all this time. While I've looked through them some, I'm just not someone who is a reader of comics.

I am ready to pass this collection along, hopefully somewhere where they will be read. Donating to the library looks like a no-go, they only accept books in "as new" condition, or they just re-sell them. These are in great shape, but not quite "as new."

What can I do with this collection that ensures it goes somewhere it's wanted? These books were important to my dad, and that matters to me. But after years in a box in my closet, I think it's time they move on.

The collection is 10 titles, 11 total books (1 duplicate) - The Authoritative Calvin and Hobbes, two copies of The Essential Calvin and Hobbes, Something Under the Bed Is Drooling, Attack of the Deranged Mutant Killer Monster Snow Goons, Weirdos From Another Planet, The Revenge of the Baby-Sat, The Days Are Just Packed, It's a Magical World, Homicidal Psycho Jungle Cat, The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book

A Calvin and Hobbes vocabulary quiz! I credit Calvin and Hobbes for helping me pass my SATs many eons ago, or at least increased my vocabulary by forcing me to read with a comic book in one hand and a dictionary in the other. Ah, summer vacation at the library...

I was going to link each vocab word to its source comic strip but perhaps that can be its own quiz - whoever's feeling up to the challenge. ;)

>Calvinism - When it comes to comic strips, we like 'em smart. So for this quiz, we took words from Bill Watterson's Complete Calvin and Hobbes (Andrews McMeel), out this month. See you in the funny papers. Answers - and relevant quotes from the animated pals - on the next page.

1. veritable adj.

• A: not false.
• B: unprovable.
• C. imaginary.
• D: green in color.

2. cretin n.

• A: shoehorn.
• B: clod.
• C. oily liquid.
• D: clump.

3. assent n.

• A: long climb upward.
• B: suggestion.
• C. sentence fragment.
• D: agreement.

4. perpetrate v.

• A: to commit
• B: pondering.
• C. pass along.
• D: pierce partially.

5. serene adj.

• A: turbulent.
• B: calm.
• C. injectable, as with medicine.
• D: ancient.

6. provocation n.

• A: act of being dishonest.
• B: act of showing sorrow.
• C. act of inciting.
• D: act of raising one above another.

7. onslaught n.

• A: sneak attack.
• B: air attack.
• C. fierce attack.
• D: retreat.

8. harbinger n.

• A: sign.
• B: warning.
• C. celebration.
• D: carrying case.

9. trajectory n.

• A: flying object.
• B: stationary object.
• C. fixed point.
• D: path.

10. imminent adj.

• A: first among many.
• B: ready to take place.
• C. greatly delayed.
• D: innermost.

11. malign. v.

• A: to knock out of whack.
• B: to fake illness or injury.
• C. speak ill of.
• D: convert.

12. surmise v.

• A: to infer.
• B: condense.
• C. remove carefully.
• D: startle.

13. tripe n.

• A: type of fish.
• B: leafy green vegetable.
• C. worthless thing.
• D: treasured item.

14. calibrate v.

• A: hide.
• B: adjust precisely.
• C. capture the attention of.
• D: calculate.

15. spelunking n.

• A: act of proving false.
• B: type of cake frosting.
• C. boat part.
• D: hobby of exploring caves.

16. mandible n.

• A: a sharp tooth.
• B: beggar.
• C. jaw.
• D: unusual request.

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Answers:

1. veritable adj.

• [A] Being in fact the thing named; not false or imaginary.
• "Together, a veritable fist of defiance, we stand immune to any onslaught."

2. cretin n.

• [B] Clod; stupid or vulgar person.
• "...and you babble like a cretin until she leaves."

3. assent n.

• [D] Agreement, especially after thoughtful consideration.
• "Dad will look at Mom and say,/'Too bad he had to go that way.'/And Mom will look at Dad and nod assent."

4. perpetrate v.

• [A] To commit, carry out.
• "By removing my clothing, I can perpetrate any crime undetected."

5. serene adj.

• [B] Calm; tranquil; free of storms.
• "Tragically, this serene metropolis lies directly beneath the Hoover Dam."

6. provocation n.

• [C] Act of inciting, stirring up.
• "At the slightest provocation, we'll let loose a merciless barrage of stinging ice."

7. onslaught n.

• [C] An especially fierce attack; something resembling such an attack. For an example of usage see answer No. 1 (at left).

8. harbinger n.

• [A] Sign of things to come.
• "Comets are harbingers of doom."

9. trajectory n.

• [D] Path; progression.
• "Houston, we have a negative on that orbit trajectory."

10. imminent adj.

• [B] Ready to take place.
• "The alien, being unnaturally stupid, is blissfully ignorant of its imminent doom."

11. malign. v.

• [C] To speak ill of.
• "Ooh! An insult! I've been maligned! I'll never speak to you again."

12. surmise v.

• [A] To infer on slight grounds.
• "Only then will they surmise/the gruesomeness of my demise/and see that my remains are in a heap."*

13. tripe n.

• [C] Something poor, worthless, offensive. Also, a cud-chewing animal's stomach lining, used as food.
• "When you're old, you'll wish you had more than memories of this tripe to look back on."

14. calibrate v.

• [B] To adjust precisely; to standardize by correcting a deviation from the norm.
• "Spaceman Spiff, bold interplanetary explorer, spies a Zarg. Spiff calibrates his blaster. Ready... aim..."

15. spelunking n.

• [D] The hobby or practice of exploring caves.
• "Want to go spelunking with me?"
• "Spelunking? There aren't any caves around here."

16. mandible n.

• [C] Jaw, especially a lower jaw made of a single bone.
• "Ha! Beneath that soft exterior lie terrible mandibles of bone-crushing death. He'll grind you into a hamburger."

Vocabulary Ratings

• 8-10 Good
• 11-13 Excellent
• 14-16 Exceptional

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I'm so sorry to see the Calvin and Hobbes subreddit get struck down like this, but at the same time am encouraged by how the mods and fans are handling the situation. I hope someday I can share the actual pages, if you'll allow an image of that. I'll even blur out Calvin and Hobbes in the corner just to be safe! This fun little quiz is the sole reason I kept this particular issue of Reader's Digest.

Hope this was a fun read.