Calvin

Calvin
First appearance:	November 18, 1985
Last appearance:	in HELL!
Other characters

Calvin is one of the title characters of Calvin and Hobbes, along with his best friend and stuffed tiger, Hobbes. He is a perpetually-six-year-old boy with a penchant for getting into trouble and a wildly vivid imagination. The comic almost always focuses on Calvin's life, his troubles, and his adventures.

History

Calvin in his last appearance.

Early history

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Calvin in his first appearance.

Calvin's first appearance was in the first strip. He was checking his tiger trap, baited with a tuna fish sandwich. (He claimed that "tigers will do anything for a tuna fish sandwich".) Hobbes also stated that tigers are "kind of stupid that way" while hanging upsidedown.Here is a funny picture of calvin

Appearances

Calvin's main trademark appearence was his black pants and a striped red shirt, similar to Peanuts character Linus van Pelt, who also wore a red striped shirt. At times, depending on the season and weather, he was also seen wearing his winter clothes or his raincoat. Other times, Calvin would then change into his Stupendous Man outfit, jumping inside the closet and donning his hood and cape. In a few strips, you can see that he wears "tighty-whitey" style underwear. Being extremely short, Calvin once exclaimed "Short pants touch my feet, OK!?"

Calvin's Alter-Egos

Calvin, when bored or not paying attention, daydreams and thinks he becomes Spaceman Spiff, Tracer Bullet, Stupendous Man, and many others. Spaceman Spiff, a intergalactic hero, (as in Calvin's perspective) who drives a red spaceship with a bubble canopy. He always wears his space goggles, and his uniform. Spaceman Spiff always encounters aliens, and always gets his spaceship to crash. Calvin mostly thinks of Spaceman Spiff at school, with Miss Wormwood as a alien.Tracer Bullet is a hard-boiled private eye who solves mysteries. Each Tracer Bullet strip is mostly black and a bit of white. The name Tracer Bullet comes from a Military round coated with aluminum paint that "Traces" its way to its target. Sometimes Calvin does a host of other personalities and creatures. One alter-ego Calvin actually transforms into Stupendous Man, not by his imagination, but by an actual costume which his mother made for him. Stupendous Man is a superhero of Calvin's perspective. When Calvin does homework, he sometimes dons his costume and blasts the school or try to set the Earth one day behind. He usually tries to save Calvin from work rather than protecting the planet. One time when Hobbes asked Calvin if Stupendous Man had ever won a battle (because he usually doesn't, thanks to Calvin's teacher, babysitter, or parents), Calvin told him that all of Stupendous Man's victories were moral victories.

Calvin's Social Relationships

His social relationships at home, in the public, with other children, and at school are not so stable. He has hard times socializing, and thus, has few friends. But he is also frequently bullied by Moe, another classmate in Calvin's school. He also annoys his own babysitter, Rosalyn who often gets him in trouble. His only real friend is his stuffed tiger, Hobbes, who he almost is never seen without. Calvin remarks in one strip about how "it's shameless the way we flirt," when talking about Susie Derkins.This implies Calvin's relationship with Susie, especially early in the strip. This relationship gradually got more advanced to the point, where it seemed as though they were mortal enemies, when they were actually good friends. This could imply HateShipping. Watterson has remarked about how he started to let the personalities bounce off each other, and this improved the meaning of their relationship.

Personality

Calvin is a rebellious, irritating, imaginative, and a disagreeable person; though he tries desperately to show his true, good side. He almost always only expresses this side in front of Hobbes. Calvin's woods are influential on him in that they help bring out his small but redeeming contemplative side. His wagon also helps him in bringing out his contemtlative side, but he usually rides it with Hobbes and ends up driving his wagon (which "wouldn't survive a 200 MPH collision with a stationary object" as Calvin says) right over a cliff.

Personal Life

Calvin usually is causing pandemonium in school, his house, and generally everywhere he goes. He is often seen bugging Susie Derkins, his worst enemy. Calvin's only moments of serenity are with his best buddy, Hobbes. He gets average C grades, seeing he mostly gets Cs, but has gotten a few high grades. There was even a time when he got an A+, but he REALLY chewed Hobbes out for THAT (see Cardboard box for the whole story).

Artistic Evolution

Like Hobbes, Calvin looked very different at the beginning of the strip than at the end. During the strip, Calvin's eyes slowly got more oval-shaped and farther apart, his hair got longer and spikier, and he got noticeably taller.

Calvin's last name.

It is believed that Calvin's last name is Monroe. Originally, Monroe and Jones had an equal chance, but Jones appeared twice in Calvin and Hobbes, and was in a Homework paper, thus proving that it wasn't Calvin's last name. Mr. Monroe appeared only once and was eventually killed, much of how Calvin may have feelings and daydreams about his dad. Anyway, death was immenent for Mr. Monroe, who was probably supposed to be Calvin's father.

Trivia

• Calvin probably has a crush on Susie.
• Calvin hated being forced to learn how to swim, but he is commonly seen in his "kiddy pool" during the summer.
• Interestingly, in both his first and last appearances, Calvin is wearing a hat of some sort, the first being a pith helmet and the last being a snow hat.

See also

• Calvinball
• Cardboard box
• Hobbes