Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for December 02, 2021

Maybe Calvin should copy Charlie Brown and get more than his shoes blown off by pitching a baseball game.

Just let them slide off your feet.

You’ll blow something off all right, Calvin.

If the snot runs into your shoes they’ll slide off easy

Why, Calvin?

You need a high voltage power line for that.

Careful. It might cause your head to pop off.

That only happens in cartoons.

In cartoon physics, your shoes will only pop off when you’re surprised.

It’s good to have goals. But it’s a lot more likely that you’ll blow snot out your ears. Or pop an eye loose.

Either that or pop an eardrum, whichever comes first.

Say something to Mo, I’m sure he’ll oblige….

LMFAO….. my hero!

Love me a good nice long loud sneeze…

You should go visit Charlie Brown, Calvin. His shoes fly off regularly just playing baseball. Rest of his clothes, too!

I thought he was hoping to expand his brain.

Need to try harder.

That sorta thing happens only to cartoon characters, kid. Oh waitsaminute.

I heard this joke more than 50 years ago: A nun was sharing her satisfaction with her first pair of panty hose. “They keep my legs toasty warm during these wintery days, but when I sneeze, my shoes blow off.”

If I tried to hold my sneezes in, my eardrums would land in my neighbor’s yard.

The force of my sneezes is measured in kilotons of TNT.

Nice to have goals, right, Calvin?

Your ears come loose and stop at funny angles. The teacher will usually let you go use the bathroom mirror to straighten them up.

What a weird think a sneeze is. Wonder when it started in our evolutionary history.

That only works in the comics.

Recently sneezed and blew an eye vein. Looked so great and just now looking normal. Too bad it did not happen at Halloween. that would have been cool.

Two days ago I made a comment about Calvin’s high intelligence after someone was surprised at his strong vocabulary. I pointed out that Calvin is “a super intelligent kid with a strong vocabulary and stronger imagination”. His strong imagination and love of experimentation are evident in today’s strip.

Having pointed out that Calvin has a very strong imagination, I reminded people that Watterson has said that he didn’t see Hobbes as part of Calvin’s strong imagination but as a separate character. Brian accused me of “harping on” and wanting to be “proved right”. I don’t see how I can be proved right or wrong on repeating something that Bill Watterson has explained at least twice. I was merely reminding people of what Bill Watterson says and that I agree with him.

It took me nearly four years to accept that Hobbes is not part of Calvin’s magnificent imagination. I began reading this marvellous comic strip in late 1987 and assumed Hobbes was meant to be part of Calvin’s imagination. I began to suspect that I had been mistaken in May 1988 after reading some strips which showed Hobbes doing things when Calvin wasn’t present. I finally accepted that Hobbes is independent from Calvin’s imagination in April 1992 when I read Bill Watterson’s comment “I suspect he’s more real than any kid could make up.”

That’s not going to happen but you can do serious damage to your eardrums. Let it out. Cover it, but let it out. :)

He is just envious of Charlie Brown, that boy gets his shoes blown off weekly!

Ah, the classic “small text in a really big burst bubble.”

I miss LeadingEdge…

I was always told that I’d blow my brains out!

This highlighted what stood out to me about Calvin when I was a kid: He never takes his shoes off unless he’s also taking off a lot more.

It won’t be your shoes you’ll blow off, Calvin.

Funny!

The worst thing is to sneeze very hard while having a horrible headache, and fearing your head will explode. Hope that didn’t ruin anyone’s day.

I cracked a couple of ribs suppressing a sneeze once. My doctor told me to never suppress a sneeze again. (Kept an extra suit jacket and shirt in my car before retiring. Sneezing into the inner elbow can get a little messy. Once knew someone that called that area “the elbow pit”. Anyone else ever use that term?)

Or blow his ears and eyeballs out