History Fridge / CalvinAndHobbes

** See LateToThePunchline, but a lot of comics also only make sense when you take into account the time in which they were written; Calvin's self-centeredness as a critique of attitudes in TheEighties, his taste in comic books and movies being a jab at the then-ongoing [[UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks Dark Age]], and so on. To a kid born after 2000 reading this, they're probably going to be even more confused, but still laughing at timeless gags. The jury's still out on whether the comic books are supposed to symbolize anything; Watterson openly says he hates comic books in the 10th anniversary collection, though to be fair, just because he doesn't like comic books doesn't mean he wouldn't use them symbolically. Not all symbolism is positive.

*** As [[Creator/UrsulaKLeGuin Ursula K. LeGuin]] has pointed out, children are perfectly aware that there are real life equivalents to "dragons" in this world: what stories reassure children is that there are also "dragon-slayers", something about which children are less certain.

** Both characters are named after Renaissance philosophers (albeit their ''first'' names come from the philosophers' ''last'' names). That is some heavy stuff for a comic strip.

*** Worse yet - Calvin's interpreted as being [[AmbiguousDisorder being neurodivergent in some way]]. As anyone with neurodivergence (Especially autism spectrum), ''especially'' ones who were Calvin's age in TheEighties, TheNineties, or the TurnOfTheMillennium (Diagnosed or not) can tell you? They were ''highly'' mocked. Most of the time you picked on them? [[BlamingTheVictim You could pin it on them for "inviting" it]] in some way or provoking it. Victim Blaming was the ''norm''.

*** This also isn't the only time she tries this method - she actually tried it earlier, but Calvin had climbed out the window and thus couldn't hear her say "We can pop some popcorn" instead of threatening physical violence. Rosalyn underwent CharacterDevelopment - she talked to Calvin and came up with terms agreeable to the both of them.

* [[https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1995/04/02/ think about the implications of this strip]]. A common theory about Calvin and Hobbes' wild journeys down the hills on their wagon (or toboggan) is that Calvin imagines the outdoors near the house as being much larger, steeper and perilous than it really is, so any tumbles they take in reality must be much less dangerous than in his imagination. But let's look at Calvin's dad. He has very limited imagination and is purely ordinary and practical in his outlook on life. He's complained in other strips about how dangerous it is as a cyclist on the roads (look how ''intimidating'' it is when he has to go in the bike lane with speeding, careening traffic right next to him and one of the drivers screeching abuse at him in this strip). We then see him fall wildly off the bike, he and it both tumble down a hill and he looks very badly scraped and injured (if apparently not suffering any bone breaks). For a man with basically no imagination, ''the falls he takes on his bicycle are very real and dangerous'', making a sharp contrast with the fantasies of his son's joyrides.

*** Worse yet - Calvin's interpreted as being [[AmbiguousDisorder being neurodivergent in some way]]. As anyone with neurodivergence (Especially autism spectrum), ''especially'' ones who were Calvin's age in TheEighties, TheNineties, or the TurnOfTheMillennium (Diagnosed or not) can tell you? They were ''highly'' AcceptableTargets. Most of the time you picked on them? [[BlamingTheVictim You could pin it on them for "inviting" it]] in some way or provoking it. Victim Blaming was the ''norm''.

* [[https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1992/11/27/ This strip]] implies that Miss Wormwood smokes and that Calvin's been driving her to go through two packs of cigarettes a day. [[https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1994/02/23 Another strip]] has Calvin openly wonder if her doctor's aware she takes various medications at once. Given that she's five years from retirement, she may not even live to see it happen.

* Calvin is the epitome of the ByronicHero.