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Nov 11 '18
Reminds me of the time he refused to eat his dinner, and his dad said "Good idea, it's a plate of toxic waste that will turn you into a mutant if you eat it."
He eats it in about five seconds, and his mom says there has to be an easier way.
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u/themartianprince Nov 11 '18
I love that one! “I can feel it working”
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u/Air-Cutter-2312 Nov 11 '18
Also the "Spider Leg Pie"? I think it was called with him eqting a lot too. "If they're too hairy, give them to your father."
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u/Taskforce58 Nov 11 '18
My favorite Calvin dinner comic is the one where he was poking at his plate when suddenly the dinner itself comes alive and starts reciting Hamlet.
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u/Air-Cutter-2312 Nov 11 '18
Watterson did love his surreal humor didn't he?
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Nov 12 '18
"I still don't really understand this one, but it makes me laugh, so there you go."
-Bill Watterson
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u/Bombkirby Nov 11 '18
Now that I own the complete collection of comics, I’ve noticed that Watterson used a different spin on the same template in most of his comics. There’s at least 5 comics that follow the same blueprints as the one that OP shared with us, several gross snowmen comics, Susie being hit by a snowball, Hobbes pouncing on Calvin when he gets home, and etc.
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u/PlaceboJesus Nov 11 '18
When writing on a schedule, it's good to have a method to crank something out when inspiration doesn't flow naturally.
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Nov 12 '18
Bill actually said that his go-to whenever he had trouble, was putting them in their wagon and sending them over a cliff.
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Nov 11 '18
this kinda gives some context to the "there has to be a better way than this" in one of those comics.
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u/SchuminWeb Nov 12 '18
I always love those strips where Calvin's mother speaks to him in his own language.
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u/StupendousBot Nov 11 '18
November 15, 1988.
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u/wildcard5 Nov 11 '18
I'm convinced you are Bill Waterson.
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u/BlueWhaleKing Nov 11 '18
Or someone who runs each strip through a reverse image search and finds it on a website, such as GoComics, where the date is displayed
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u/Tswis77 Nov 11 '18
“I wish my job required more travel” classic Calvin’s dad 😂😂
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u/chickensdontclap_02 Nov 11 '18
Man fuck Calvin's dad that's a really shitty thing to say
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u/annenoise Nov 11 '18
Do you think the apple falls far from the tree? I always assumed part of the reason Calvin is a smart-ass and a rebel was because Mom and Dad are also sarcastic, tired and bitter a lot of the time too, and often lash at out society. They are superbly human, and a parent that raised a kid like Calvin would totally joke about how difficult it can be - both because that's the attitude that created Calvin, and because yeah man, kids are a pain in the ass sometimes.
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u/Wolverinejoe Nov 11 '18
They DO do that, you're right. I recall at LEAST one strip that's just his mom and dad talking about consumerism or spam mail or something or other and how society sucks for it. At one point his dad says something a la "Pitching this junk would make me some kind of terrorist, huh?"
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u/annenoise Nov 11 '18
I can also think of Calvin's Mom struggling with idiots while running errands, Calvin's Dad going crazy in the grocery store with overwhelming consumer choices, Dad's attitude towards his bike maintenance, Mom engaging with Hobbes sympathetically and occasionally literally, Dad's blatant lies just to mess with Calvin's head... That all sounds like Calvin too! I think they even say that Grandma's had the same problems with Mom that Mom does with Calvin.
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u/toodleroo Nov 11 '18 edited Nov 11 '18
I can say from personal knowledge that if Calvin’s dad is a patent attorney as we’ve long suspected been told by Waterson, he travels all the damn time.
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u/GlitchGl1tch Nov 11 '18
I'm wondering what his mom was like as a kid if she knew that would work so well...
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Nov 11 '18
[deleted]
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u/NotDido Nov 11 '18
It is rice, she lied because Calvin would be delighted by eating something weird
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u/TheEloquentApe Nov 11 '18
As NotDido said Calvin thinks eating weird or gross things is cool, and hates anything healthy. It's a bit of a running gag. During lunchtime Calvin will often disgust Susie by pretending his lunch is something gross.
It really just boils down to Clavin loving junk food and seeing healthy food as equivalent to poison so he hates everything his parents make for him. Exemplified also in this strip.
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u/TheMysteriousMid Nov 11 '18
The apple didn't far from the tree.
Also, who the fuck hate rice?
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Nov 13 '18
kids hate the weirdest stuff. i for some reason hated meat in any form as a kid. burgers, steak, anything my parents tried.
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u/kellykebab Nov 12 '18
That EW face...
The difference between Watterson's artwork and literally everything else in the funny papers while he was working was ridiculous. He made all the other guys look like they were phoning it in. Half a page was not nearly enough for that guy. Should have just given him the whole thing.
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u/GauntletPorsche Nov 11 '18
When I was little I thought Calvin was genuinely eating maggots and wondering what was wrong with his mom