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Calvin and Hobbes Cast

Calvin: Calvin is named for a sixteenth-century theologian who believed in predestination. Most people assume that
Calvin is based on a son of mine, or based on detailed memories of my own childhood. In fact, I don't have
children, and I was a fairly quiet, obedient kid-almost Calvin's opposite. One of the reasons that
Calvin's character is fun to write is that I often don't agree with him.
Calvin is autobiographical in the sense that he thinks
about the same issues that I do, but in this, Calvin reflects my adulthood more than my childhood. Many of
Calvin's struggles are metaphors for my own. I suspect that most of us get old without growing up, and that
inside every adult (sometimes not very far inside) is a bratty kid who wants everything his own way. I use
Calvin as an outlet for my immaturity, as a way to keep myself curious about the natural world, as a way
to ridicule my own obsessions, and as a way to comment on human nature. I wouldn't want Calvin in my house,
but on paper, he helps me sort trough my life and understand it.

Hobbes: Named after a seventeeth-century philosopher with a dim view of human nature, Hobbes has the
patient dignity and common sense of most animals I've met. Hobbes was very much inspired by one of our cats,
a gray tabby named Sprite. Sprite not ony provided the long body and facial characteristics for Hobbes, she
also was the model for his personality. She was good-natured, intelligent, friendly, and enthusiastic in a
sneaking-up-and-pouncing sort of way. Sprite suggested the idea of Hobbes greeting Calvin at the door in
midair at high velocity.
With most cartoon animals, the humor comes from their humanlike behavior. Hobbes stands upright and talks of
course, but I try to preserve his feline side, both in his physical demeanor and his attitude. His reserve
and tact seem very catlike to me, along with his barely contained pride in not being human. Like
Calvin, I often prefer the company of animals to people, and Hobbes is my idea of an ideal friend.
The so-called "gimmick" of my strip - the two versions
of Hobbes - is sometimes misunderstood. I don't think of Hobbes as a doll that miraculously comes to life
when Calvin's around. Neither do I think of Hobbes as the product of Calvin's imagination. The nature of
Hobbes's reality doesn't interest me, and each story goes out of its way to avoid resolving the issue.
Calvin sees Hobbes one way, and everyone else sees Hobbes another way. I show two versions of reality,
and each makes complete sense to the participant who sees it. I think that's how life works. None of us
sees the world in exactly the same way, and I just draw that literally in the strip. Hobbes is more about
the subjective nature of reality than about dolls coming to life.

Calvin's Parents:
I've never given Calvin's parents names, because as
far as the strip is concerned, they are important only as Calvin's mom and dad. Calvin's dad has been rumored
to be a self-portrait. All my characters are half me, so it's true in some ways, but Calvin's dad is also
partly a satire of my own father. Any strip about how suffering "builds character" is usually a verbatim
transcript of my dad's explanations for why we were all freezing, exhausted, hungry, and lost on camping
trips. These things are a lot funnier after twenty-five years have passed.

Calvin's mom is the daily disciplinarian, a job that taxes her sanity, so I don't think we got to see her
at her best. I regret that the strip mostly shows her impatient side, but I try to hint at other aspects of
her personality and her interest by what she's doing when Calvin barges in.
Early on, Calvin's parents were criticized by readers for being unloving and needlessly sarcastic. (Calvin's
dad has remarked that what he really wanted was a dog.) At the time, I think it was unusual for a comic
strip to concentrate on the exasperating aspects of kids without a lot of hugs and sentimentality to
leaven it. We usually only see Calvin's parents when they're reacting to Calvin, so as secondary
characters, I've tried to keep them realistic, with a reasonable sense of humor about having a kid like
Calvin. I think they do a better job than I would.

Susie Derkins:
Susie is earnest, serious, and smart - the kind of girl I was attracted to in school and eventually
married. "Derkins" was the nickname of my wife's family's beagle. The early strips with Susie were
heavy-handed with the love-hate conflict, and it's taken me a while to get a bead on Susie's relationship
with Calvin. I suspect Calvin has a mild crush on her that he expresses by trying to annoy her, but Susie is
a bit unnerved and put off by Calvin's weirdness. This encourages Calvin to be even weirder, so it's a good
dynamic. Neither of them quite understands what's going on, which is probably true of most
relationships. I sometimes imagine a strip from Susie's point of view would be interesting, and after
so many strips about boys, I think a strip about a little girl, drawn by a woman, could be great.

Miss Wormwood:
As a few readers have guessed, Miss Wormwood is named
after the apprentice devil in C.S. Lewis's The Screwtape Letters. I have a lot of sympathy for Miss
Wormwood. We see hints that she's waiting to retire, that she smokes too much, and that she takes a lot of
medication. I think she seriously believes in the value of education, so needless to say, she's an
unhappy person.

Moe:
Moe is every jerk I've ever known. He's big, dumb,
ugly, and cruel. I remember school being full of idiots like Moe. I think they spawn on damp locker
room floors.

Rosalyn:
Probably the only person Calvin fears is his baby sitter. I put her in a sunday strip early on, never
thinking of her as a regular character, but her intimidation of Calvin suprised me, so she's made a
few appearances since. Rosalyn even seems to daunt Calvin's parents, using their desperation to get out
of the house to demand advances and raises. Rosalyn's relationship with Calvin is pretty one-dimensional, so
baby-sitter stories get harder and harder to write, but for a later addition to the strip, she's worked
pretty well.

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