"He's a blood-thirsty monster!"

A favorite newspaper comic strip from the 80s -- Calvin and Hobbes -- has come to life ... albeit in the form of a cartoon from Robot Chicken on the Cartoon Network.

Long before Calvin was demoted and forced the appear on NASCAR fan rear windows, urinating on either Ford or Chevy emblems, he was the co-star in the comic strip drawn by Bill Watterson. The strip ran from 1985 to 1995 and at its height of popularity appeared in more than 2,000 newspapers.

Click here to find out what would really happen today if a 6-year-old boy believed his stuffed tiger was real.

"The vicious tiger shows no mercy!"

Quick trivia quiz:
1. What do Calvin's parents do for a living?
2. Name Calvin's babysitter.
3. Name his school teacher.
4. Who are the characters Calvin and Hobbes named after?
5. What's the name of Calvin's anti-girl club?

[Photo: Robot Chicken]

Comments

[SPIKY SANDY]

My favorite C & H's is still posted in my day planner (from 1993). It's Calvin sitting behind a box labeled "Candid Opinions". When Suzy walks by he says, "You're a bat-faced, bug-eyed, booger-nosed, baloney-brained, beetle-butt!" The next scene is Calvin, obviously beaten up by Suzy, saying, "This volunteer social work just isn't for me." I'm a Social Worker and we still walk around the office calling each other these names.

[Greg Williams]

My Top 5 comic strips of the 80's:

5) Peanuts
4) Marvin
3) Garfield
2) Calvin & Hobbes
1) Bloom County

I didn't have as fond a liking for Bloom County as he made it more of a Doonesbury-like political commentary in the latter years. To be honest, I have seldom paid attention to the "Opus" strip he is presently running, and only read 3 strips of "Outland" that I can recall.

But I did tape "A wish for wings that work"...

[anon]

someone is a fan of milkandcookies.com

[matt]

Well, I always heard that the grown up Calvin was the inspiration for "Fight Club", what with his imaginary pal, gothy Derkins, et. al. ...
Is that wrong?

[frank]

I always thought the kid from malcom in the middle would have made a good calvin in a live action film

[ken]

watterson's dad was a patent lawyer much like calvin's dad.

[sherrie87]

I second the Bloom County comment, Bassnote. I always preferred Bloom County to Calvin and Hobbes, though both were excellent. For some reason, BC seems much more "80's" to me while Calvin and Hobbes is unrestrained to a specific time period. A great friend of mine said, circa '83 or '84 that he loved Bloom County because "you'll never see an Opus stuffed toy on sale at Hallmark." How wrong he was! Heck, you could even pick up a Bill the Cat doll, it all it's hairball spewing glory.

[Bassnote]

In the 80's my favorites were Bloom County and Calvin & Hobbes. I still have many books of both strips, and pull them out occasionally when I want a good laugh.

[Spears]

You're right, of course. I've added the more specific attribution and photo credit. Gracias.

[Wilson]

The dad isn't an 'attorney'. I mean he is, but specifically, he's a patent attorney.

[Shamananana]

The above image of Hobbs is from the Cartoon Network series "Robot Chicken..." seems that someone forgot to add a photo credit to this article.

[Brad]

One of my favorite Calvin quotes:

"Studies in Contemporary State-Sponsored Terrorism... Also known as gym class."

[Bill in Nokomis]

Treated myself to the _Complete Calvin & Hobbes_ hardbound boxed-set after last Christmas. List is $150, but with the after Xmas sale and the discount card, I thought I had made a smart purchase.

Just saw the same set in Sam's Club for $83.50 on Sunday.

[Jim]

I am glad that there are fellow nerds out there...

I know that Bill is against marketing his creation, and feels that "dolls" would degrade his creation... and probably true.

But I want a stuffed hobbes to give to my children when I have them... completely in the spirit of the comic.

Calvin and Hobbes is one of the most influential pieces of literature that I have ever read.

[Carrie]

Calvin and Hobbes. Wow. Those were the days :]

[Tonianne]

re: youtube post

The first rule of G.R.O.S.S is you do not talk about G.R.O.S.S.

Sorry, couldn't resist.

actually.... here's what would happen if Calvin & Hobbes were real characters allowed to grow up...
http://youtube.com/watch?v=HstQaobp4Jw

[Shawn]

Sorry to be uber technical, but Calvin's dad is specifically a Patent Attorney

[Allison]

Actually it's "Get Rid of Slimy girlS" club - aka "GROSS". Hehe...

Apparently Miss Wormwood is named after a character in "The Screwtape Letters" by C.S. Lewis. Beat that, "Garfield".

[Bubba]

Umm...not a viral video - a copyrighted segment from Robot Chicken - a show on Cartoon Network.

[Tonianne]

1. Dad is an attorney, mom is a housewife/stay at home mom
2. Rosalynn
3. Miss Wormwood
4. John Calvin and Thomas Hobbes
5. The Get Rid of Slimy Girls club, aka "GROSS"

[Spiky Sandy]

Oh my goodness! That Calvin & Hobbes video is a scream!!

Calvin & Hobbes was a comic that I never missed. I'm sorry that it's no longer in the paper. The cool thing is that my 12-year old son loves to read the books as much as I loved reading the comics in the paper.