If you came here to look for a certain strip, I recommend heading to The Calvin and Hobbes Extensive Strip Search (CHESS) to find it. You can search with words, or go to a specific date. When you click on a result in your search with or you arrive at a page after you search the date, you get a description of the strip, and also what collections contain the strip (and on what page).
If you actually want to see the strip, take the date you find and enter in: http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/YYYY/MM/DD (in case it’s not obvious enough, Y is year, M is month, and D is date)
Odd Strips
One-Panel Sundays
Two Calvin and Hobbes strips that appeared in Sunday Pages consist of one panel. Of course, the panels are the same size of a regular Sunday. The first one shows Calvin and Hobbes talking about how fast their summer went (August 28, 1988), and the second one is a Christmas Eve poem (December 24, 1989), which you can read in the poems section.
Quick fact: Watterson said in Calvin and Hobbes Sunday Pages: 1985-1995 that he had to redraw this strip for book collections for it to fit the page. (It appears in its original form through the link.
Description of latter (from http://www.reemst.com/calvin_and_hobbes/stripsearch?q=christmas+eve+on+window+panes+the+icy+frost&search=normal&start=0&details=1498, I apologize for not being able to find it): “Calvin and Hobbes are lying on the floor, by the Christmas tree and the fireplace. There is a poem about Christmas Eve. It reads the tree is decorated festively, Christmas songs play on the radio, his tiger is fast asleep, he turns to warm whatever’s not hot. He gives his friend a gentle hug. Tomorrow is what he’s waiting for, but he can wait a little more.”
Gone
One strip, and only one, has no pictures of C&H characters in it. To my surprise, this is a Sunday Page. It’s where Calvin and Hobbes are toying with the transmorgrifier gun, and the entire strip shows them transmogrified into different animals.
Wait a couple books
There was a strip shown in The Essential Calvin and Hobbes that wasn’t shown in the first two books. The Essential Calvin and Hobbes has all the cartoons from the first two books, and apparently it has one more on page 253. The strip, created on May 23, 1987, shows Calvin trying to make iced tea with a packet and ice cubes. Just to let you know, the strip was published in The Complete Calvin and Hobbes.
What’s constantly in a Calvin and Hobbes strip
Loadsabigwords
Calvin sports unusual words in unusual moments. He does use his vocabulary, but he uses it for explaining why he can’t answer a question or in other ludicrous situations. Watterson said in The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book that he likes cumbersome words.
Their Game: Calvinball
Calvin invented a game called Calvinball, a game when the only rule is there can’t be the same rules twice. “No sport is less organized than Calvinball!” It was introduced after Calvin’s hardships on his softball team.
Their Secret Club: G.R.O.S.S
Calvin leads a club called The G.R.O. S. S. Club (Get Rid Of Slimy Girls) which has such a name so neighborhood girl Susie can’t join. Watterson has a story about a club he ran when he was a kid which you can read in the fun facts section.
Famous Events
I try not to spoil the ending here, so you can enjoy! Many of these events have collections named after them.
The First Strip
In the first strip, Calvin catches Hobbes in his tuna fish trap, revealing how they got together. Bill Watterson later said in The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book that he now thinks it was unnecessary. You can see the strip on the Andrews and McMeel website by clicking here, as well as the last strip ever.
A Raccoon Dies
It’s a rarity to deal with death in any comic strip. This was the only lengthy story when Calvin did, finding a pet raccoon outside only to see it die shortly after. Watterson said this opened up the strip’s boundaries of adventures in The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book.
Yukon Ho!
In this Calvin and Hobbes adventure, Calvin is tired of parenting and not enough freedom. So he decides to secede from the family. His journey to Yukon with Hobbes started that night.
Weirdos From Another Planet
Because of all the pollution on Earth, Calvin and Hobbes decide to go to Mars on their wagon. It was the only time the wagon had been set out to do something unrealistic.
The Revenge of the Baby-Sat
Rosalyn had a science assignment to do while she babysitted Calvin. Calvin, previously hiding from his only fear, naturally was up to something.
Scientific Progress Goes “Boink”
To make duplicates of himself, Calvin used his cardboard box again. It worked, but the duplicate duplicated himself. Then that duplicate duplicated himself, and so on. There were so many duplicates that Mom and Dad got annoyed.
Attack of the Deranged Mutant Killer Monster Snow Goons
In this Calvin and Hobbes story, Calvin brought an evil snowman to life. The snow man (known as a snow goon) made his own minions, which made their own minions. Calvin tries to find a way to kill the evil snowmen.
The Noodle Incident
Watterson said in The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book that like the Hamster Huey and The Gooey Kablooie story, The Noodle Incident is left to the reader’s imagination. The Noodle Incident was mentioned after a parent-teacher conference, and also during Christmastime.
