Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for August 16, 2023

Don’t want to leave any undetonated “bombs” around.

Which means it IS going in the club log!

Is this in any way similar to the unmentionable “noodle incident?” Calvin certainly looks like a wet one…

Yeah Hobbes, give The Little Prince another good dousing!!!

Wet a way to go….,

Susie 1, Calvin 0

Note that the first panel shows Hobbes holding a water balloon, listening to Calvin who is being soaked behind Hobbes’s back and out of the panel and blinking in reaction to what he hears. It was moments like this, the rare glimpses of a living Hobbes without Calvin, which first led me to suspect I had been mistaken in assuming the living Hobbes to be part of Calvin’s imagination. Watterson, of course, confirmed this in The Calvin And Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book before he stopped producing the strip at the end of 1995. He wrote, “The so-called gimmick of the strip – the two versions of Hobbes – is often misunderstood. I do not see Hobbes as a doll who miraculously comes to life when alone with Calvin. Neither do I see Hobbes as a product of Calvin’s imagination.”

RobertRomero will probably have a different take on this. He will probably argue that Calvin is imagining Hobbes reacting to what is happening. I would reply that, if Calvin is imagining Hobbes in such a stressful moment, Hobbes must be very real to him.

She got you good, didn’t she, Calvin?

The look on Hobbes face in panel three is precious.

I think this club is all wet!

Must be pretty dicey for a tiger to handle water balloons, what with claws and no opposable thumbs. Hope Hobbes is getting hazard pay.

This is why I never messed with girls growing up, they always find a way to get even, just like what Susie did to Calvin

Revenge is sweet !

It’s always satisfying to see Calvin receive a swift kick to the butt, so to speak.

What a refreshing turn of events.

Hey! Don’t you dare blame Hobbes! YOU’RE the one who wanted to be theatric with your corny supervillain-style traps and bait when ALL YOU HAD TO DO WAS HIDE BEHIND THE TREE AND BEAN HER THEN AND THERE!!

Just seeing the look on Calvin’s face…

Calvin’s quite right: according to subsection 23 of clause 29 in the G.R.O.S.S. club statutes, incidents must only be entered in the log if they take place in the presence of both the life president and the first tiger, and also if no girl is involved. MCGA!

She got him! She got him GOOD!

Girls are smarter than Calvin gives them credit for.

Hobbes, the ever practical — Waste not, want not.

Justice reigns. Sometimes it pours.

Shouldn’t add insult to injury, Hobbes.

Hobbes don’t do it!

The expressions in panel three are priceless. You could make a one-panel gag out of that one.

GO, HOBBES!!!

Calvin you should know was coming.

Calvin and Susie are Wile E and Roadrunner with a side kick.

This round: Susie-1, Calvin-0

“Insult to injury” is often the way of best friends.

This event quickly went from being historical to hysterical.

Go ahead Hobbes. What harm can there be?

Waste not, want not

LOL… Hobbes has been waiting a LONG time to hit Calvin with a water balloon ! Love the look on Hobbes’ face in panel one, too.

One time when I was a teacher we had a water balloon ball game at a summer festival, throwing the balloons over a volleyball net, outdoors of course, with the other team trying to catch them and throw them back. It was so much fun and quite okay on a hot day.

Oh Hobbes, you are SO going to get fired from being First Tiger. But hey! Go join the SCRUBB Club. (Suzies Club Uses Balloons Better). I hear they have better intel and much better benefits.

It would have been great to have 4 panels of Calvin getting soaked with the hose

flawless victory! I hate calvin! he will be in jail soon with Trump!

Go ahead. Add insult to injury or what’s a tiger for?

Oh, that’s right, this started as a club thing. I’d forgotten.

Lesson for Calvin: Never enter into a battle of wits while he’s unarmed.

We don’t get to see Susie soaking Calvin with the hose? Very disappointing! I wanted to see every detail of that.

Any more questions about Karma, Calvin?

Adds new meaning to being all wet! Yay, Susie, you go girl! Hahaha!

I love that first scream, when Calvin realizes what’s coming.

Member secretary can close the meeting with a bang if the chairman has surrendered. Go on Hobbes.

splat, sploosh, and a wee.

All those times Calvin got in trouble with his mother for his assaults on Susie, I hope at least Susie got in trouble with her mother for attacking Calvin like that!

Et tu Hobbes?

Maybe there’s a lesson, here: conspiring to do mischief with a stuffed toy is unlikely to end well.

weapons of splash destruction.

What is the small rectangle on his face in the second panel? Lips? Mouth??

At this point, I don’t see any harm in using the remaining water balloon. Go for it, Hobbes!

Go back to your lives, citizens. Nothing to see here.