List of Calvin and Hobbes characters
This is a list of characters from Calvin and Hobbes, a comic strip by Bill Watterson. The strip revolves around a mischievous six-year-old boy named Calvin and his stuffed tiger, Hobbes. Other characters include Calvin's parents, classmates, and numerous imaginary creatures.
Calvin
Calvin, named after the 16th-century theologian John Calvin, is a six-year-old boy with spiky blond hair and a distinctive red-and-black striped shirt, black pants and sneakers. Despite his poor grades in school, Calvin demonstrates his intelligence through a sophisticated vocabulary, philosophical mind and creative/artistic talent. Watterson described Calvin as having "not much of a filter between his brain and his mouth", a "little too intelligent for his age", lacking in restraint and not yet having the experience to "know the things that you shouldn't do." The comic strip largely revolves around Calvin's imaginative inner world and his largely antagonistic experiences with those outside of it. Watterson said that Calvin was not based on his own childhood, stating that he was "a quiet obedient kid almost Calvin's opposite". Many authors have linked Calvin's erratic behavior to ADHD.Hobbes
From Calvin's point of view, Hobbes is an anthropomorphic tiger much larger than Calvin and full of independent attitudes and ideas. When a scene includes any other human, Hobbes appears as a stuffed animal, usually seated at an off-kilter angle with a blank facial expression. The true nature of the character is never resolved, instead as Watterson describes, a 'grown-up' version of reality is juxtaposed against Calvin's, with the reader left to "decide which is truer". Watterson stated that unlike most imaginary friends that children have, Hobbes has the ability to argue with Calvin, which means that "Hobbes is more real than any kid would dream up." Hobbes is based on a cat Watterson owned, a grey tabby named Sprite. Sprite inspired the length of Hobbes's body as well as his personality. Although Hobbes's humor stems from acting like a human, Watterson maintained Sprite's feline attitude.Hobbes is named after 17th-century philosopher Thomas Hobbes, who held what Watterson describes as "a dim view of human nature." He typically exhibits a greater understanding of consequences than Calvin, but rarely intervenes in Calvin's activities beyond a few oblique warnings. He often likes to sneak up and pounce on Calvin, especially at the front door when Calvin is returning home from school. The friendship between the two characters provides the core dynamic of the strip.
Calvin's family
Mom and Dad
Watterson has never given Calvin's parents' names "because as far as the strip is concerned, they are important only as Calvin's mom and dad." Like Hobbes, they serve as counterpoints to Calvin's attitude and view of the world. However, Watterson sometimes uses them to explore situations adults can relate to, such as the desire to enjoy leisure time as opposed to the need to work, or bad customer service and frustrations when grocery shopping. Also, occasionally Watterson takes the time to flesh out the two parental characters. One example is a storyline in which the family returns from a wedding to find their house has been broken into and ransacked. For several strips, Calvin and Hobbes fade into the background as Mom and Dad reflect on the impact of the event. Calvin's father is particularly shaken, admitting to his wife that when he was growing up, he looked up to his own father as an adult able to automatically handle any situation that comes his way, then says, "I don't think I'd have been in such a hurry to reach adulthood if I'd known the whole thing was going to be ad-libbed."Calvin's father is a white-collar office worker, specifically a patent attorney, as Watterson's own father was. An outdoorsman, he enjoys bike rides and camping trips, sometimes in extreme weather, and insists that these activities, like Calvin's chores, "build character". Though his age is never specified, when Calvin offers him a bowl of chocolate cereal, he replies "No thanks, I'm trying to reach middle age." He often responds to Calvin's questions with deliberate lies as a private joke; for example, when Calvin asks how people make babies, his dad responds that "most people just go to Sears, buy the kit, and follow the assembly instructions," but that Calvin was "a blue light special at K Mart. Almost as good, and a lot cheaper." Calvin mostly believes his dad's answers, though on one occasion, when he tells Calvin that wind is "trees sneezing", when Calvin asks if that's really true, his dad replies, "No, but the truth is far more complicated." Calvin sometimes treats his dad's role in his life as a political office, and will give his dad reports on his "polls" regarding his performance, often suggesting that his dad is in danger of being voted out in response to things Calvin doesn't like, such as being told to do homework or take baths. Based on photographs of Watterson, Calvin's dad resembles him, sans a moustache, and Watterson has commented that he relates to Calvin's dad the most.
Calvin's mother is a stay-at-home mom who is frequently exasperated by Calvin's antics, with Watterson adding that her job "taxes her sanity." Before Calvin's birth, she worked a stressful job filled with aggravation, which Calvin's father claims is the reason she was better prepared to stay at home and raise Calvin. Whether or not he was jesting is debatable. On the rare occasions when she is not reacting to Calvin's misbehavior, she seems to enjoy quiet activities, such as gardening and reading. She is frequently the one forced to curb Calvin's destructive tendencies; in one Sunday strip, she allows Calvin to smoke a cigarette in order to teach him how unpleasant smoking can be. Watterson has said he regrets the fact that the strip mostly shows her impatient side. In another strip, she voices a wish that Calvin will one day have a child like himself, so he can understand what he puts her through, and Calvin retorts that her own mother used to say the same thing about her. She also usually seems sympathetic towards her son's relationship with Hobbes, and a few times has found herself speaking to Hobbes as well, though this embarrasses her.
Early on in the strip, Watterson says, the parent characters were criticized by readers for being overly sarcastic and insufficiently patient, especially Calvin's father, who has several times reminded his wife that he at first wanted a dog instead of a son. Watterson has defended their parenting methods, saying that "when it comes to parenting a kid like Calvin, I think they do a better job than I would."
Other relatives
Uncle Max
Calvin's Uncle Max appeared in a series of strips in 1988, visiting the family. Uncle Max is the older brother of Calvin's father, though he is established as single and childfree. When Calvin guesses that Max had been in jail, his mother is outraged, while his father seems to agree with Calvin, saying "with Max, that's not a bad guess". Max even relates to Calvin a bit more by acknowledging Hobbes, commenting that he has "a killer's eye", which leads Calvin to comment that Max is "sharp" and "hard to believe he's related to Dad."Watterson has said Uncle Max was meant to be included in further strips, such as where the family would go to Max's home to pay him a visit; he never appeared again because Watterson felt that it was strange for Max to be unable to refer to the parents with proper names, and that the character never provided the new material for Calvin that he had hoped for.
Max is drawn to resemble Calvin's dad, but with a moustache instead of glasses. The two are modeled after Watterson, who wore both.
Grandparents
A few strips mention Calvin's grandparents. One example, which Watterson selected for reproduction in the Tenth Anniversary Book, features Calvin telling Hobbes describing his Grandfather's complaints about comic strips: newspapers print them too small, and now they look like Xeroxed talking heads. Hobbes then tells Calvin that his grandfather takes comic strips seriously; Calvin says as a result, his mother is looking into nursing homes.Susie Derkins
Susie Derkins is a classmate of Calvin who lives in his neighborhood. She is the only recurring character in the comic strip to have both a forename and a surname. Named after Watterson's in-laws' family beagle, she first appeared early in the strip as a new student in Calvin's class, but in later strips speaks as a longtime neighbor. In contrast to Calvin, she is polite and diligent in her studies, and her imagination usually seems mild-mannered and civilized, consisting of games such as playing "house" or having tea parties with her stuffed animals. In one strip it's shown that Susie plays lacrosse, when she uses her stick to fling back a pinecone that Calvin tried to hit her with. Her parents are referred to several times in the strip, but have not appeared other than one brief shot of her mother's legs while talking to Calvin.Susie is frequently the victim of Calvin's derision and plots, and is also often willing to retaliate when provoked. Most commonly, Susie will be the target of Calvin's water balloons or snowballs. Calvin often goes to great lengths to disgust or annoy Susie, as when founding his and Hobbes' club 'G.R.O.S.S.' expressly to exclude her. Susie is Calvin's equal in cunning, often turning his plans into ignominious defeats. The two sometimes speak at their bus stop, where both usually become exasperated at each other; and at the lunch table at school, where Calvin deliberately grosses Susie out with fictitious descriptions of his lunch. Susie sometimes argues in academia's favor when Calvin says disparaging things about school, and on at least two occasions worries that Calvin's antics will affect her own academic progress.
Watterson has said he suspects that Calvin and Susie may have a crush on each other, and that "this encourages Calvin to annoy her". This love/hate relationship is most obvious in a Valentine's Day strip in which Susie hits Calvin with snowball for sending her "a hate mail valentine and a bunch of dead flowers", but both inwardly show appreciation; Susie because Calvin sent her a gift, and Calvin because Susie had noticed. In another strip, Calvin calls Susie for help with homework, and she teases him that he missed "the melodious sound of voice". During one series of strips Calvin modifies his "duplicator" to copy only his good side; this well-dressed, polite, and studious version of Calvin soon becomes besotted with Susie, but is rebuffed with a hostile reaction.
Despite the general animosity, there are occasions where Susie and Calvin can get along somewhat peaceably, such as when Calvin had been the only boy not to sign up for baseball at recess. Calvin reacts with concern for cooties at first, but gets over this and plays with Susie on the teeter-totter expressing his concerns that it is pointless to do something just because it is mainstream, while also admitting his dislike for organized sports because of all the rules and being ordered around. Susie seems to take his concerns as valid points.
Susie features as a main character in two of the five storylines that appear in Teaching with Calvin and Hobbes.