Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for July 13, 2024

Smile, you’re on Candid Camera…..

No, instead, they’ll be asking more questions, starting with, “What the heck is wrong with that kid?”

Great art work.

Must be a Tyrannosmilus Rex

Umm, Calvin! CALVIN!!!!!

“my⠄⠄⠄what big teeth you have” said Little Red Riding Hobbes

A once in a lifetime chance for some close up photos of T-Rex tonsils.

And this was way before Jurassic Park.

It’s good to have focus in your activities

Looks like they overshot the Jurassic Period and ended up in the Cretaceous one. Great artwork, Bill.

Aren’t humans the only being that bares it teeth to show happiness.

Now it’s snack time….

Today’s strip is yet another example of Hobbes seeing something that Calvin is unable to see for himself. If Calvin really is imagining the dinosaur, how come he doesn’t know about it?

There are three ways to read this story arc. One is that it is all in Calvin’s imagination. The second is that Calvin and Hobbes are both imagining it and Hobbes is imagining a much more dangerous dinosaur than Calvin. I believe that is possible as I used to think of Hobbes as part of Calvin’s imagination but – after about four years – came to accept that he is a living being with a separate intelligence and imagination than Calvin. He certainly thinks more quickly than Calvin does. A third reading of the strip is that the time machine and the dinosaurs are real as Hobbes is.

I don’t think Calvin realizes that when he publishes his photos, paleontologists won’t be the only ones to be curious about this photos. The world’s governments, spy organizations and militaries will be paying him courtesy visits to discuss just how he was able to obtain such photos. They’ll probably want a set in his box for his next trip! Of course, I’m sure Calvin will be able to handle all the new found notoriety…after all “Discreet” is his middle name!

WAIT just a dadgummed minute.

Watterson commented on how he had to reconsider all of his views about dinosaurs and how to draw them after the “new wave” of paleontology starting in the 80s, the same that inspired Chrichton’s book, dramatically changed our concept of prehistoric life. Without that book, those ideas would’ve never had that global cultural impact. And you can see it in the C&H dinosaur storylines. His dino art remains stunning to this day, even without the feathers.

It may be smiling, but too early for the Pleistocene. Can’t be a Smilodon then.

Umm, Hobbes… He ain’t smiling. He’s hungry! Geez! You’d think being a carnivore himself, Hobbes would know better!

Gulp!

Hope he gets a good shot of the Thagomizer

Must be time for lunch.

LOL… That is NOT a smile, Hobbes – more like a menacing grimace.

T Rex smiling at the change in his daily menu choices.

I…don’t…think…we…have a minute…

My xtian co-workers informed me there were never any dinosaurs, the bones were put there by satan to confuse us. Oil is put in the ground by sky daddy, and we’ll never ever run out, he simply makes more. And these people vote.

Hope that they don’t end up a casualties of “just a minute”.

“Jurassic Park is frightening in the dark

All the dinosaurs are running wild

Someone shut the fence off in the rain

I admit it’s kinda eerie

But this proves my chaos theory

And I don’t think I’ll be coming back again, oh no!"

~ (Jurassic Park, sung to the tune “MacArthur Park”)Weird Al/Jimmy Webb

The f-stops here.

Calvin can get a picture of the inside of the T-Rex’s belly. Scientists will pay through the nose

I encountered a large black bear standing on a trail recently (in a park in California where they are so used to people they ignore us) and by the time I got the camera out all I got were his hind legs as he crossed into the trees.

Looks like he is thinking of taking a bite of someone.

You fellows don’t want to know why he’s smiling.

Don’t trust the smile on a smilodon, either. (It has reason to smile. You don’t.)

More of a “toothy grin”.

Calvin sometimes uses big words — like paleontologists.

Smiling in anticipation of the tasty meal in front of it.

I hope that’s not supposed to be a T rex, side by side with a stegosaur.

He’ll need a new pair of underwear after he sees the dino behind him.

He’s ready for his extreme close up!