Due to its continuing cultural and commercial success, Calvin and Hobbes has been featured in mainstream media. Some noteworthy examples are listed below.
Literature[]
- Imagination and Meaning in Calvin and Hobbes – Written by Jamey Heit, published 7/30/2012. It is an artistic critique of thematic material in Calvin and Hobbes.
- Looking for Calvin and Hobbes: The Unconventional Story of Bill Watterson and his Revolutionary Comic Strip – Written by Nevin Martell, published 10/5/2009. An account of the author's investigation to locate Bill Watterson.
- Mad – Parodied as Calvin and Jobs, with former Apple CEO Steve Jobs taking Hobbes' place to satirize Apple's business practices.
- My Little Pony: Friends Forever – In issue #1, the characters cause an explosion of caramel that the narration refers to as "Ewey Gewey Caramel Kablooey", likely a reference to the running joke of Hamster Huey and the Gooey Kablooey.
- My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic - In issue # 71, which takes place on Nightmare Night (the Equestrian version of Halloween), the character Big Macintosh is seen in the background of one panel wearing a red shirt with black stripes and holding a stuffed tiger that looks like Hobbes.
Television[]
- Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis: The Movie – On Will Ferrell's desk a plush toy modeled after the toy version of Hobbes is displayed.
- Family Guy – In season 7's eleventh episode, Not All Dogs Go to Heaven, Calvin and a stuffed Hobbes appeared on screen for a few moments.
- Mad – The sketch Garfield of Dreams, first aired 26/03/2012, features many comic strip characters, including Calvin and Hobbes. They served as "extras" somewhat, unnamed and with no dialogue, and Calvin's shirt was blue.
- Robot Chicken – One sketch featured Calvin getting Hobbes as a birthday present, and getting medicated by his parents out of concern for his health only to turn psychotic.
Comic strips[]
- Big Nate - A strip from May 15, 1997 had Nate teaching his older sister Ellen about comics so she could get along with Gordie better. Nate decides that she could finish a comic strip-related phrase, and so says, "Calvin annnd...". Ellen doesn't get it right, however, and says "Klein" instead, referencing the fashion designer Calvin Klein.
- Foxtrot – One strip lampooned the weight of The Complete Calvin and Hobbes collection, depicting a house turned on its side from the pull of Calvin and Hobbes books. A kid resembling Calvin himself also makes a few cameos as a recurring background extra. Also, a hobby shop that Jason and Marcus visit in one strip is named Calvin's Hobbies.
- Mother Goose and Grimm - One strip featured the dog Grimm getting nabbed for marking his territory in a neighbor's yard. The neighbor, a woman named "Miss. Wormwood", bears a very striking resemblance to Calvin's school teacher of the same name.
- Rose is Rose – A story arc started on September 10, 1989 features a reclusive cartoonist obsessively answering his fan mail. This may be a reference to Bill Watterson, as he had by that point turned down many requests for interviews and become notorious for the above traits.
- Zits - Sled
Video games[]
- The Sims Online – Calvin's Creek is one of two cities available to play the game in. The name could be a reference to the creek in the Woods behind Calvin's house.
Web Cartoons[]
- Homestar Runner - The Halloween special I Killed Pom Pom features the Cheat dressed as Spaceman Spiff.