Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for February 20, 1994

This is one of my favorites. I love quoting the alien :D

Heh poor Calvin, what a cliffhanger, not a good one for a 6-year-old to read, I imagine.

“I could feel my spine shatter… it hurt… a lot.”

This was definitely during the Dark Age of comic books, when anti-heroes were all the rage and excessive violence, sex, blood and gore clumsily tried to cover up mediocre writing.

I’m shocked Universal Press allowed Watterson to visually depict someone shattering someone’s spine with a gun.

I just love this one for a totally awkward reason: Watterson was giving all the regular characters a break from actually BEING there. Sure we all love Calvin and Hobbes and everyone, but Watterson shows off his true talents of drawing in this one. Plus this situation he drew was so normal in the comic books at the time what he drew was honestly average at the time.

I was always impressed with Watterson’s ability to actually draw this way. He did it many times. He was a skilled artist, who opted for another style as he drew C&H. It made me respect him even more to realize his style was making a statement.

“Would you be mine? Could you be mine? Won’t you be my neighbor?” Click

There’s too much violence in books. why don’t you go watch T.V.?

“It hurt…a lot.” I bet!

Now I know where Calvin gets his violent personality. It seems today that all you see is violence in movies and sex on TV.

I remember when I first saw this strip when I was 12. The shocking thing to me wasn’t the spine shot, but that (I’m guessing that’s Captain Napalm) he was punching a woman! I’m also guessing that the woman is Amazon Babe, mentioned in an earlier strip.

Ouch…

Calvin might enjoy reading The Encyclopedia of Animals: Mammals, Birds, Reptiles, Amphibians (©1993) by Dr. Harold G. Cogger et al. (consultant editors).