For anyone not overly familiar with Bill Watterson’s Calvin and Hobbes, they might be surprised to learn just how deep the comic strip can get. Yes, the strip, which ran from 1985 until 1995, is about a rambunctious little boy and his plush tiger. And yes, there are many silly installments with things like a T. rex flying a fighter jet or massacred snowmen. But that stuff, which is wonderful in its own way, represents just one side of Calvin and Hobbes.

Calvin and Hobbes could go deep about a lot of things. Calvin, despite being a little kid who hates to do his homework, has surprisingly deep thoughts and profound ideas. For example, there’s one comic strip where Calvin and Hobbes are rushing down a hill on a sled and Calvin asks, “Hobbes, do you think human nature is good or evil?” From there he continues, saying, “I mean, do you think people are basically good with bad tendencies, or basically bad, with a few good tendencies?” Of course, no real answer is given in the comic strip, just as would be the case in real life, but it’s the kind of thing that could really get the reader thinking.

In addition to human nature, Calvin and Hobbes occasionally addresses man’s place in the universe. For example, one comic strip features Calvin, by himself, looking up at the stars one night. He shouts “I’m significant!” He then waits, and mutters to himself, “Screamed the dust speck.”

Most of the deeper Calvin and Hobbes comics were more monologue-y, with Calvin asking wordy, well-thought-out questions, even if they were rhetorical.

Source link