https://www.npr.org/2025/11/18/nx-s1-5564064/calvin-and-hobbes-bill-watterson-40-years-comic-strip-lee-salem

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'Calvin and Hobbes' at 40: Bill Watterson's comic strip
transmogrified everything The adventures of a precocious 6-year-old
and his stuffed tiger debuted on November 18, 1985. NPR's Renee
Montagne spoke with the comic strip's editor, Lee Salem, in 2005.
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Moments in history

Looking back at NPR's past coverage of major news stories

40 years ago, Calvin and Hobbes' raucous adventures burst onto the
comics page

November 18, 20259:29 AM ET
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Renee Montagne

'Calvin and Hobbes' first hit the comics page 40 years ago

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"There's Treasure Everywhere," the tenth collection of Calvin and
Hobbes comic strips, published in March 1996.

"There's Treasure Everywhere," the tenth collection of Calvin and Hobbes comic strips, published in March 1996.
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40 years ago -- on November 18, 1985 -- a new comic strip appeared in
the newspaper: Calvin and Hobbes.

Hobbes was a stuffed tiger, but in the mind of 6-year-old Calvin he
was a wryly observant companion for his day-to-day challenges and
wildly imaginative adventures.

Adventures of the beloved duo lasted just a decade. Their creator --
cartoonist Bill Watterson -- walked away from Calvin and Hobbes at the
height of its popularity.

Watterson -- who has given few interviews -- seamlessly combined the
silly, the fantastic and the profound in his strip. That slightly
demented quality captured editor Lee Salem, who spoke with NPR's
Renee Montagne in 2005.

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The following exchange has been edited for length and clarity.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Interview highlights

Lee Salem: I remember it when I first read it, and it all... it
literally took my breath away. And I circulated it in the office, and
the response was immediate. It was fresh, it was funny, the art was
strong, and here's this archetypal little boy living a life that some
of us lived or wanted to live or remembered living. ...

One of the single favorites that I have is actually on my wall in the
office, and it shows Calvin in bed, obviously with a fever or
something. He's got a thermometer in his mouth. You hear the words
from a television. He's watching a soap opera -- you know, "If you
leave your spouse and I'll leave mine and we can get married." And it
goes on and on and on, as lurid soap operas sometimes do. And Calvin
turns to the reader with a big grin on his face, and he says,
"Sometimes, I learn more when I stay home from school than when I
go." And I just thought that was so funny. And, amazingly, when it
ran, we actually got complaints from readers who said, "Well, you
know, you're advocating that children stay home and watch adult soap
operas." And somehow, the whole sense of irony was lost in that, but
I don't think it was lost on me. I love that strip.

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Renee Montagne: You know, I describe him as a little boy with his
tiger friend, but there's so much more to it than that. So there's
one where they're sitting philosophizing, as they often do, on the
grass, this time under a tree. Hobbes is looking at the sky and
saying, "Do you think there's a god?" And they're both gazing and
thinking, and then in the fourth panel, Calvin thinks about it. And
then do you remember what he says?

Salem: Yeah. "Yeah, well, someone is out to get me."

Montagne: Calvin was preceded into existence by some pretty famous
little boys: Charlie Brown, Dennis the Menace. What made him
different?

Salem: You know, we saw Calvin living in a world he never made,
populated by adults and teachers, and he was trying to deal with that
and accomplish what he could. I think Calvin has a bit more perhaps
Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn in him than Charlie Brown. Hobbes I see
almost as the alter ego of Calvin. He's a balancing act that allows
Calvin to exist. He provides commentary on some of Calvin's crazy
adventures and attitudes.

Montagne: Hobbes goes from being a stuffed tiger when there's any
other person in the room, to the real Hobbes we know and love. Is
Hobbes real or not?

Salem: He is to me, and obviously he is to Calvin. Whether he is to
the other characters or not is an open question. But I think one of
the things Bill brought to the art board was this wonderful ability
to take a child's imagination and fantasy life and make it real. It
really is irrelevant whether Hobbes has an existence as we would
define it. For Calvin, he is there. He's a buddy, he's a companion,
he's a friend.

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Lee Salem edited Calvin and Hobbes until the comic strip ended in
1995. Creator Bill Watterson said at the time that he wanted to
explore a canvas beyond the four panels of a daily newspaper, and to
work at what he called "a more thoughtful pace," but has produced
little public work since then.

Salem died in 2019.

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