Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for August 16, 2022

Time to man up, and go confront those monsters!

Yeah! Kick their butts, Calvin! (Assuming monsters have butts. We never see a whole one.)

The monsters were in the closet before sneaking under the bed, right?

Time for him to confront his most primal fear, and crawl under the bed!!!

Why not? You’ll be awake anyway.

Where’s Susan Sto-Helit when you need her with the poker?© Terry Pratchett

You won’t have to crawl under there, Calvin. Just dangle a leg over the edge and they’ll pull you in.

When I was a small kid, Frankenstien lived behind the door to the hall, which was always wide open. I used to look through the crack between the door and the wall and see him. Now that I think about it he must have been real skinny to fit there!

Poor Calvin, no wonder the monsters kept him awake. He had to put up with all those Where the Wild Things Are opera auditions… right under his bed!

Today’s strip reminds me of something I heard on the radio about forty years ago concerning the Samuel Beckett play Waiting For Godot:-

“Godot never comes. Or does he? Maybe he comes and they don’t see him? Maybe he’s there all the time?”

Mom seems to think that because she didn’t see any monsters they are in Calvin’s imagination but it is also possible that monsters can come without being seen or that they are there all the time but only Calvin and Hobbes can see and hear them.

Watterson has explained, “I do not see Hobbes as a doll who miraculously comes to life when alone with Calvin. Nor do I see Hobbes as a product of Calvin’s imagination…Calvin sees Hobbes one way. Everyone else sees him another way.”

Hobbes and the Monsters Under The Bed sometimes talk to one another. Therefore, they are on the same plane of reality which Calvin has access to but Mom (and other humans in the strip) do not. Mom hears Calvin speak to Hobbes but cannot hear Hobbes speaking to Calvin so she assumes it is Calvin’s imagination. She also cannot see the Monsters Under The Bed so she assumes that they are also in Calvin’s imagination.

Yes, I know that this is a comic strip but it is a very thoughtful and philosophical comic strip and takes its name from two cynical philosophers – John Calvin and Thomas Hobbes.

No need to crawl under there and ask them, just e-mail ’em at monster@_b.ed

There’s a wing of the house right below Calvin’s bedroom window.

Maybe they slipped into his room from the rooftop there.

While you’re crawling under the bed discussing how the monsters got there Cal, be a good boy and round up the dust bunnies for mom.

They time it just right?

Where is the magnificent Spitfire when you need it most

Perhaps the monsters are able to open a door from another dimension to under the bed and the only time the doorway can be opened is at night…

That is why you have to grow up and marry Susie so she can lay next to you at night and protect you and Hobbes!

Time for Mom to conduct a monster exorcism.

The monsters stay in the closet until you’re asleep, Calvin.

Hush, little baby, don’t say a word

And never mind that noise you heard

It’s just the beast under your bed

In your closet, in your head

Leave a note.

Yeah.. the closet. They always hide in the closet.

They go through the ductwork.

Well, that would remove all doubt…

“For some reason, they kept singing ♪♫ ’I’m Hen-er-y the Eighth, I am’ ♪♫ all night…”

My fear was looking out the window above my bed. There is danger on the edge of town.

Its a trick. Mom is secretly involved in the monster breeding program. They grow from a few cells to adults by nighttime

Now Calvin won’t be able to sleep thinking about that question.

Actually, ..yes

too many chocolate frosted sugar bombs

Monsters have parental immunity. Everyone knows that.

Mom should know better. Logic rarely works with lids and never with Calvin.

Monsters under the bed were never an issue for me as a kid, unless they ate me and I’m the monster now.

Calvin:oh why wouldn’t i go under the bed and ask them oh yeah cause it’d be stupid they’d eat me alive

Perhaps a truth mirror in Calvin’s room might work, though I have my doubts!

Funny. Stupid answers for stupid questions.

Mom forgets monsters can be sneaky, Mom.

Yeah Mom! What gives? What kinda monster “searches” ya doin, anyway??

Good grief, thr child looks really disturbed. Wonder what that tiger was doing all night.