Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for July 15, 2012

It’s good, to have a loveing Dad waiting at the end of the long slide catching you!

Spaceman Spiff- The Early Years. (Anybody who has a problem with Dad, get over it. He’s Calvin’s anchor and reality check- and waiting at the bottom to catch him if he falls.)

Looks like that slide ride is going to end somewhere in around Ohio.

One of my earliest memories is watching my older brother (about 7 to my 2 or 3) slide down the supporting poles of the slide, like the firemen. I decided to do that too—but no one told me I had to hang on!! I can still hear the AAAAAHHHHH! of a woman who was in the park with her kid, thinking she was going to pick up my cadaver.Fortunately the slide was built on grass and soft earth, so all I had was a huge bruise. Doctor told my mom not to let me go to sleep for the rest of the day (it was morning) and to take me to the hospital if I acted sleepy. I was apparently never a whit the worse, though after a traffic accident 30 years later a scan showed my skull still carries a “stress mark.”

Ooof. Exactly how I felt when I was a kid.

Fear is in the eye of the beholder.

Good Dad’s

I think I’d rather go down the slide than back down the ladder.

OMG! I know where you’re coming from , Calvin!

Odd that with my fear of heights, I never had a problem with slides when I was young.

There’s a real one down in Brazil that would test your mettle – The Insano.

http://www.odditycentral.com/pics/worlds-highest-water-slide-is-called-insano-looks-pretty-insane.html

I felt the same way about the high diving board, and I was older than Calvin.

Spaceman Spiff is a wuss!

Imagination wins once more over reality.

Hey, I couldn’t even bring myself to climb up the high slide for a long time.

The same thing happened with my daughter. It was a tall slide, and no matter how much encouragement I gave her, she just couldn’t let go and come down.She is 32 now, but it seems like it happened last week.

Click here: Peanuts (August 14, 1953)

Here is a very young Lucy in 1952, a year and a half after Peanuts began, back when she still had really big eyes. The previous strip is from the next year, and by then her eyes had become dotsClick here: Peanuts (April 27, 1952)

It’s all about perspective; but this is the kid that’ll ride a garbage can lid with Hobbes down a giant hill between trees! Hobbes is missing; that’s the problem.

Click here: Thatababy (February 5, 2012)

That’s about how I felt my first time on a slide… back in the days when they were higher and straighter than you find on playgrounds these days.

@oronico womble: That one was never published in paperback. Unlike Calvin and Hobbes, there are many Peanuts strips that were never published until recently.

Oh, I miss those days!

Awwwwwwww!

Don’t be scared, Calvin!

I love the 7th Panel.

xxx

Look MOM, I’m on top of the world

I’m confused. Calvin loves these situations, so why he’s scared?

He is not dead.

Looks like a Phineas & Ferb creation. Never seen things built so tall in my life.

He will jump off a cliff in his wagon but is afraid to go down the slide

I was never afraid of a small straight slide like that. It was those that go down in a spiral that made me clutch the handrail all the way down and annoy the kids in the line behind me.

Susan; I know we have the same views on Calvin’s father. To me he’s a selfish, sarcastic, resentful person who probably feels he was tricked or coerced into having a child by Calvin’s mother and wishes he didn’t have one. I think he hates every moment he’s forced to play with Calvin. I think that people who don’t see this, who think all fathers are loving and caring are probably in denial.

Thanks Hobbes – enjoyed those. It’s nice that everyone is commiserating with Calvin instead of making fun of him.

This is seen from the imagination of a short person…that slide is three times taller than he is; even I would flinch at a 19 foot slide. But in that same imagination he can do anything…it’s just when reality comes along that he flinches.

No, if it was Cedar Point it would be closer to the lake, that looks like it ends around Cincinnati. that would be Kings Island, they have scary rides too.

Calvin I would have felt the same way at your age. Than when I got older I wanted to try other things only my mom would not allow it.

Come on Calvin, the first diving board I jump off was hundreds of ft higher than that.Why they had that diving board close to the kiddies pool still makes me shiver.

LOL that’s how it feels when your six!

Where’s an ugly snot-nosed bully when you REALLY need one?(Those shoves in the back were good for at least another 20fps)

Once my granddaughter slides down with each of the twins on her lap, they realize it isn’t scary and can’t get enough. It’s just that first trip that has some hesitation.

Suppose you were a parent of a highly active kid who keeps turning six over and over for decades, with no end in sight. Calvin’s parents have incredible patience, especially after all these years.

I Love Calvin and Hobbes! My Dad has so many of the comic books and I read them over and over again!

@mythreesons: Sounds like you may have to change your name to mythreesonsandmythreegrandkids!

My favorite strip ever. Makes me giggle everytime

He must have strength to climb up that far.

Regarding Calvin’s parents, Slywlf, Hobbes, and Vonne Anton said it well – thank you! Calvin’s parents are perfectly normal. Yes, they get frustrated with him, yes, they yell sometimes, but in general, they deal with an awful lot with Calvin so I understand them.And no, my parents weren’t perfect. I got hit too much, yelled at a lot, etc. But my father died when I was 20, so I never really got to the point where I could tell him that I understood him. I may not still understand or agree with my mother, but I do have the power to forgive and try to get along with her because who knows how much longer she’ll be around either. None of us are perfect, but we have the power to change ourselves, so that’s all we can do. I don’t hold a grudge against my parents, but my sister still does and I see how that affects her and her relationships. I am far from perfect, but I know that being forgiving and understanding is always a lot more helpful than holding a grudge and being critical.

The comic is always in the eyes and perspective of Calvin. Children see their parents quiet differently than reality. I do believe both parents are great parents. They do have a handful in little Calvin…I’ve seen much worse in parents.

The same brother who did the fireman trick used to slide down sitting on waxed paper. After a few passes, you really FLEW down that sucker!!Now I realise why I was always afraid of slides…I’d never stopped and thought about it. Oh, yeah, I slid—but never alone, and I always had this kind of movie playing in my head, just like Calvin.

I make sure I don’t let that happen.

This seems a bit out of character for a kid who rides a toboggan about a hundred miles an hour downhill in the wintertime, but, oh well, what do I know?

Hurricane?