Is the Tiger Real?

Dad further establishes himself as Calvin's foil in this strip. However, Calvin always seems to have a way to keep pushing his buttons. I really think that Dad could have found a better way to deal with Calvin and the dinner table here. Dismissing him to his room is really a pretty lazy parenting tactic, however, I understand how frustrating it could be to have your kid insult the meal you've prepared and paid for after a long day at work. Still, Dad could have engaged Calvin, and tried to teach him better manners without sending him away. Even a few strips ago, when Dad just didn't give Calvin an answer about what was for dinner, that seemed better than this. I also totally relate to Calvin here, as a kid I was fascinated with the idea that you could just dial and number and pizza would show up at your door. Imagine if you would have told me then that in a few years I would have that same thing happen just by pressing a few buttons on a screen or a keyboard, without...

There is a certain pleasure in building things just to knock them down. I remember participating in these kinds of activities as a child with legos, blocks, sandcastles, you name it. I think that many could view this process as negative, and reinforcing all the wrong ideals, but I would like to argue otherwise. We're taught that building things is good and tearing them down in bad. That may be the case for certain important institutions, like the Constitution, or certain structures, like your house, but even in these cases cracks will eventually start to show, and the choice will need to be made whether to try to preserve, or to start over. Is it worth it to keep re-siding the house and amending the document, or would it be more productive to drown the sandcastle, and use the wet grains to form something new, and improved? Everything is ephemeral, even us. This assertion may seem depressing, or nihilistic, but it doesn't have to be seen this way. Is the point of life t...

Hey woah a new character! We finally get to meet Mom after more than a week of the strip, as she's driving in the car with Calvin. So far she seems pretty similar in tone and disposition to Dad, except perhaps having slightly more patience with Calvin. Once again, I absolutely relate to Calvin here; when I was a kid I thought it would be soooo cool to drive the car. Actually, I would have been thrilled just to sit in the passenger seat, and not resigned to the back. However, I also know how these desires and fascinations fade with age, and how by the time I turned 16, I was so disenchanted with driving that I opted not to get my license for another 3 years. I didn't mourn the loss of my desire to drive, I just had other things I was more worried about as a 16-year old boy. There were new activities that I wanted to explore, and new experiences that I wanted to have. Today, as a 23-year old man-boy, I look back on my 16-year old fascinations with a similar happy nostalgia and...

Intimidation is the highest form of flattery, right? I'm pretty sure that's what they say. I can relate to Calvin's immediate choice of a flamethrower for his weapon; something about being a young boy makes you fascinated with fire and enamored with the potential that it could be thrown. I also now can totally relate to Hobbes' apprehension about Calvin having a flamethrower. Obviously, the person who most wants a flamethrower should be the last person to ever actually possess a flamethrower. Other than that I don't really have a whole lot to say about this strip. It seems like a continuation of this theme of monsters under the bed that Watterson keeping threading through the strips. Many of these strips so far are set at the point when Calvin is going to bed. I wonder what the fascination is around bedtime for Watterson, or maybe it's just the first theme that he picked to create a conducive story...

Our first Sunday strip, and one of my favorite ones at that! I think Watterson knocks it out of the park with these first colored panels; the humor is on point, we get to see him display his artistry with the Dad-monster, and there are definitely some deeper themes we can pick up on.  First of all, I love that Calvin has Hobbes for solidarity and comfort in these moments of fear and uncertainty when the lights go out at bedtime. I also admire Calvin for his ability to craft a plan under a stressful situation, and to adapt it to a sudden change in the landscape (monster in the hallway instead of in the dresser). I think Watterson's choices in the last two panels of the strip are excellent. In the penultimate panel, drawing Dad as a corpulent green wide-mawed stalk-eyed creature totally encapsulates what Calvin was probably seeing in that instant when the door swung open unexpectedly. In moments of panic and terror, our perceptions change, and the way we view the world can b...

It's interesting that we haven't met Mom yet, its just Dad, even though they're around the dinner table. I don't know if Watterson simply wanted to try out a couple characters before throwing more at the reader, or if he just wasn't set on Mom being present. There's not a whole lot going on in this strip; it solely consists of an interaction between Calvin and Dad about dinner. Calvin is obviously dubious about the delectability of dinner, and Dad doesn't dissuade him decently. I can totally relate to Calvin in this strip; I wasn't the pickiest eater as a kid, but I certainly wasn't jumping at the opportunity to try new things.  I also feel that Dad's method here is all wrong. Obviously, Calvin is suspicious of the meal, as he's never had it before. His fear seems to lie in the unknown of how it is going to taste, as he tries to pin down the identity of the mush by asking his Dad. He wants an answer from Dad so that he feels a little...