The comic strip Calvin and Hobbes is ed for a lot of things: Calvin's flights of fancy, his waxing philosophical with Hobbes, and the many antics he'd get into. But if there's one recurring element that's looked back on fondly, it's the dark humor that Calvin would use every time he got a chance to build a snowman.
Calvin's sense of humor was always a bit edgy (as edgy as a six-year-old can get anyway). But nothing was off limits when he went out to build his demented, snowy figures. Discover ten of the darkest Calvin and Hobbes strips that feature snowmen.
10 Art Critic
As far as comic strip characters go, Calvin was remarkably well-spoken and bright for his age. Few comics show this better than this one which shows the protagonist commenting on how trite his neighbor’s snowman is. But Calvin isn’t speaking simply as a snowman critic, but as an artist. He compares the lame snowman to one of his own that he’s called “The Torment of Existence Weighed Against the Horror of Nonbeing”. The snowman appears to be in agony, something that Calvin says will work even better as it begins to melt. Calvin’s a lot of things, but no one ever said he wasn’t a visionary.
9 Traffic
Calvin’s parents were never shy about voicing their opinions about the creative expressions of their son. Calvin’s public displays of macabre snowman art were usually the source of ire for his parents, either for the negative public attention they drew or the inconvenience they caused. Here, Calvin’s outdone himself, setting up three distinct death scenes for his snowmen. But Calvin’s parents aren’t exactly upset at the snowman being buried alive or the one that looks like it’s about to be hanged. Calvin’s father actually seems a bit pleased that the artwork has slowed down the traffic in their neighborhood.
8 "Well-Adjusted"
Speaking of Calvin’s parents, his mother was usually quite frank with her son over his bizarre behavior. Here, the dialogue implies that she’s just called or suggested that Calvin’s sculptures don’t make him seem well-adjusted. Calvin dares to define what such a phrase means as the reader sees his latest masterpiece: A chicken decapitating a snowman. It’s definitely a funny sculpture that puts a demented twist on the image of a farmer chopping off a chicken’s head. But it’s one of the few strips where Calvin’s art is hinted to be the result of something more disturbing than an overactive imagination.
7 Dinosaur Attack
Dinosaurs are a beloved running gag in Calvin and Hobbes. This strip makes it seem like Calvin has gotten his odd desire to mutilate snowmen out of his system and is content to just make regular sculptures in peace. However, the moment his collection is complete, his imagination starts to run wild, and suddenly he’s a gigantic Tyrannosaurus Rex wreaking havoc in a crowded city. This strip blends Calvin’s strange sense of humor with his amazing creativity. It’s also one of the few times when he actively attacks his own creation rather than let his outrageous art speak for itself.
6 Alien Monster
One has to wonder where Calvin finds the time to make his huge and perturbing snowman displays. Calvin’s father wonders the same thing in this strip and reasons that the school must not be asg enough homework. Here, Calvin has created at least ten snowmen, all running for their lives from a horrific-looking alien monster with tentacles and teeth. What really makes this collection so off-putting is the details in Calvin’s creations. From the horrified looks on the snowmen’s faces to the monster’s creative design, it really shows how much effort Calvin puts into making his sets downright scary.
5 Snow Sharks
Calvin and Hobbes found humor in the little things, and it got a lot of mileage out of the premise of Calvin making his demented snowmen scenarios. Here, Calvin has constructed a snowman and posed it to make it look like he’s swimming. He’s also constructing fins behind the snowman to create, as Hobbes calls them, ‘snow sharks’. Many of Calvin’s snowmen showed the gruesome results of executions, attacks, and other unfortunate incidents. But here, Calvin shows the moments just before a disaster. It turns out snowman torture is just as awful as snowman death.
4 Sordid Story
The best comic strips make it seem like things are going one way before surprising the reader with a completely unexpected direction. In this strip, Calvin has made a surprisingly nice snowman that’s simply enjoying a snow cone. But of course, Calvin, being Calvin, has to turn it grotesque with a follow-up snowman, one that’s lying on the ground, dead, with an ice cream scoop in its back. It’s unexpected, humorous, and absolutely disturbing. Calvin’s creativity is to be ired, but one definitely has to wonder where he gets these strange ideas from.
3 Psychologist
Out of all these snowmen that Calvin’s created in his life, the one in this one is surprisingly tame. Calvin’s made a few and gathered them around his parents’ car, making it seem like the car has hit a snowman and others are huddled in shock. The true dark aspect of this strip is Calvin’s father suggesting to his wife that their boy see a psychologist. Is it possible he’s speaking in jest? Almost certainly. But with how disturbing some of Calvin’s work can be, it’s not outside the realm of possibility they think he needs to talk to someone.
2 Brain Surgery
Calvin’s relationship with Susie was always a bit contentious, but here he’s actually trying to be a bit hospitable to his neighbor. Unfortunately, he’s doing it in the worst possible way. As a snowman lies prone on the ground, Calvin saws into the snowman’s head preparing to do brain surgery on it. He offers Susie a chance to give it a heart transplant, but the idea repulses her so much she refuses to ever play with him ever again. While Calvin was never one to care what people think of him, this strip shows the negative way his antics are affecting him.
1 Effigies
Calvin’s snowmen take on a much darker meaning in this particular strip. Here, Calvin reveals that the snowmen he creates are actually effigies of the people in his life he hates. He describes watching the snowmen melt in vivid detail and says the people he truly hates get smaller effigies so they melt faster. Up until now, it seemed like Calvin’s snowmen were just offbeat exercises in creativity. But this strip reveals that the snowmen Calvin makes are all modeled after people he knows and that he has a surprisingly sinister side to him.
The snowmen displays are one of Calvin and Hobbes' most notable running gags. And these ten strips are by far some of the darkest Calvin and Hobbes strips to feature the iconic and unsettling artworks.
