Here is a list of the cast of Calvin and Hobbes.  Descriptions from Watterson (taken both from the Tenth Anniversary Book and www.calvinandhobbes.com) are in italics and descriptions by me are in bold.  Soon to come will be descriptions of the lesser known characters, as well as Calvin's alter egos and entertainment devices.

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 think 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 through my life and understand it.

Calvin's character is a very versatile one.  On a typical school day he will wake up late, go to school, fail a test, get beat up, come home, play for a while, get Hobbes to do his homework, eat dinner, take a bath, and go to bed before the sun sets.  On weekends he enjoys waking up early and goofing off either in the living room or in the woods behind his house.  Though Calvin has many interests and deep views on the way the world works, he does very poorly at school (straight D's) and would much rather enjoy goofing off and inheriting millions of dollars to sustain him for the rest of his life.  Also following suit are his ethics; Calvin enjoys being mischievous and struggles with his "good" and "evil" side every Christmas.  Watterson even portrays Calvin fighting his good side in one of his duplicator stories.  Calvin is also very egotistical, and thinks of himself as a misunderstood genius.  Though Calvin seems like a truly rotten kid to both the casual and experienced reader, one can occasionally find a compassionate and thoughtful Calvin.  For the most part though, Watterson is very consistent and has created a very believable 6 year old who is a joy to read.

Hobbes: Named after a seventeenth-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 only 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 exactly the same way, and I just draw that literally in the strip.

Hobbes goes everywhere with Calvin and is Calvin's best (and quite possibly only) friend, though if everybody had a friend like Hobbes, they wouldn't need any other friends.  Hobbes has a knack for being able to rise above the situation and is always there to listen to Calvin whatever the case may be.  He is full of catchy and thoughtful sayings and he always seems to be able to put Calvin's life in perspective.  As Watterson stated earlier, he takes great pride in being a tiger and not a human and it is easy to see why.  Hobbes doesn't seem to take pleasure in causing pain and suffering but goes along with Calvin's plans nonetheless.  However, much to Calvin's disgust, Hobbes is a true gentleman and likes to dress up for the ladies and treat them kindly.  Differences in opinion and well-timed mishaps often breed arguments between them which quickly lead to fighting; but, like true friends, they always come out together on top.

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 25 years have passed.

Calvin's mom is the daily disciplinarian, a job that taxes her sanity, so I think we get 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 interests 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 Calvin's parents realistic, with a reasonable sense of humor about having a kid like Calvin.  I think they do a better job than I would.

Calvin's parents are pretty lenient with Calvin.  For the most part, they let him run around and accept the fact that he doesn't do well in school.  They really do care about their kid, though it is sometimes hard to see why.  Calvin's dad is a patent-attorney while Calvin's mom is a housewife.  We often see Calvin's dad reading, riding his bicycle, or helping Calvin build his character by making him shovel the walk.  One of the funnier aspects of Calvin's dad is his explanation for the way the world works, often ending in a buildup of lies that become harder and harder to explain.  Calvin's mom, on the other hand, enjoys gardening and reading.  She doesn't particularly enjoy cooking, but she does is almost every night, and Calvin never likes the food.  As in most families, they don't all get along, but whatever they're doing has kept them together so far.

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 that 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.

Most people think Calvin and Susie hate each other, and for the most part, that is true.  But what most people don't know is that early in the strip, they actually admitted to flirting and hinted at mild crushes on each other.  But as the strip progressed, Susie became the object of Calvin's wrath and the smart girl to copy.  Susie responds by being even meaner to Calvin and purposefully giving Calvin wrong answers.  Though it appears that Susie is the perfect child in the class, she doesn't really like her life.  She is also an only child, and since smart kids often don't have as active an imagination, she gets lonely by herself and wishes she had more friends.  Once in a while, a story with Calvin and Susie will end happily, and maybe one day they might admit their feelings for each other.  But for now, Susie is just the smart girl on the block for Calvin.

Miss Wormwood: As a few readers 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.

Miss Wormwood exists only as Calvin's teacher and doesn't affect Calvin's life much.  She tries to get Calvin to learn but has probably grown used to the fact that it will never happen.  Always sending Calvin to the principal's office, Miss Wormwood doesn't have a lot of patience.  She can be seen hitting Calvin's desk to bring him back to reality or grabbing Calvin by the collar to keep him from running away.  Overall, she is really just Calvin's teacher and doesn't have much depth.

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.

Moe is Calvin's bully.  His favorite class is gym, where he enjoys pounding little twerps into the mat over and over again.  Moe actually fears authority and won't touch Calvin if anybody is watching, but since Calvin's school seems to have a lack of hall supervisors, Calvin gets his beating daily.  Moe's logic, however simple it may be, always seems superior only because he has the fist to back it up.  When Calvin asks Moe why he doesn't pick on somebody his own size, he simply responds, "Because they would hit back."

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 surprised 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.

Rosalyn strikes fear into the heart of Calvin.  She isn't afraid to treat him badly because she knows that she is the only person in the entire world willing to baby-sit Calvin.  Calvin, on the other hand, always tries to sabotage whatever Rosalyn is doing, whether it might be interrupting her phone calls or flushing down her notes.  Toward the end of the strip's life, we actually see Rosalyn and Calvin making a compromise and getting along, but it only happens once so you don't have to be disappointed.

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