what is the source "Calvin and Hobbes" strip for the peeing calvin decals?

September 18, 2007 12:08 PM

what is the source "Calvin and Hobbes" strip for the peeing calvin decals? i am pretty sure he wasn't peeing at all, just turned away from the viewer.

http://www.annoying.com/nightmares/obsessive/02/0001/0001.html

posted by k7lim to society & culture (15 comments total)

He was filling a water balloon.

From wikipedia:


Except for the books, two 16-month calendars (1988–1989 and 1989–1990), Teaching with Calvin and Hobbes,[6] and one T-shirt for a traveling art exhibit on comics, virtually all Calvin and Hobbes merchandise, including T-shirts as well as the ubiquitous stickers for automobile rear windows which depict Calvin urinating on a company's or sports team's name or logo, is unauthorized. As Watterson pointed out during the notes of one of the collection books, the original image was of Calvin filling up a water balloon from a faucet. After threat of a lawsuit alleging infringement of copyright and trademark, some of the sticker makers replaced Calvin with a different boy, while other makers ignored the issue.[citation needed] Watterson wryly commented, "I clearly miscalculated how popular it would be to show Calvin urinating on a Ford logo."[18] Some legitimate special items were produced, such as promotional packages to sell the strip to newspapers, but these were never sold outright.

As a personal aside, I find these stickers greatly simplify my interactions with the rest of humanity. I know, for certain, that I would not like anybody that thought Calvin urinating on anything, whether it be an automotive logo or a sports team or "la migra," was cool or funny. So that weeds them out.
posted by M.C. Lo-Carb! at 12:18 PM on September 18, 2007 [9 favorites has favorites]

I'm fairly sure it's a clever forgery, and not sourced in the strip at all. I doubt somebody's scanned a newspaper comic to make the decal, and no large-form source art would be made available to them by Watterson (obviously).
posted by tehloki at 12:20 PM on September 18, 2007

Calvin filling a water balloon (first panel, second row).
posted by 23skidoo at 12:29 PM on September 18, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

It's mentioned in Waterson's Authoritive Calvin and Hobbes too. He really didn't want C&H to go the way of Peanuts and have their faces slathered over all sorts of merchandise. That's why you probably don't have C&H boxer shorts or anything.
posted by craven_morhead at 1:07 PM on September 18, 2007

M.C.: The "Calvin praying" stickers are even more helpful when judging people by the back of their vehicles. I wonder which Watterson hates worse.
posted by thebrokedown at 1:43 PM on September 18, 2007

subquestions:

anyone know what calvin first peed on?

what is the source of the calvin praying image?
posted by k7lim at 2:30 PM on September 18, 2007

thebrokedown - oh, yes, the praying ones are the worst. Also the "peeing on Osama" variant. Mouthbreathers.

k7lim - I can't back this up, but I think Calvin's public urination problem was born in the great cultural divide between owners of Ford and Chevrolet trucks.
posted by M.C. Lo-Carb! at 3:08 PM on September 18, 2007

This usage, on the other hand, would make me instant friends with the person sporting the stickers.

I'm almost sure Calvin first peed on a car company logo (American car company rivals are probably a nod in the right direction), but I don't know which. This article ends with a huge gallery of Calvin-bastardizing images collected by the author.
posted by crinklebat at 3:27 PM on September 18, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

If there is a greater tempest in a smaller teapot than the Ford vs. Chevy people, I'd pay money to see it. Honestly people, WTF?
posted by OneOliveShort at 3:28 PM on September 18, 2007

This version, on the other hand...
posted by The corpse in the library at 4:52 PM on September 18, 2007

Calvin: An Intimate Portrait.

That could almost be a FPP..
posted by Chuckles at 5:25 PM on September 18, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

Ha! Reading C&H like a Philip K. Dick novel... an interesting prospect.
posted by tehloki at 5:27 PM on September 18, 2007

This is sort of tangential, but it does relate to adapting Watterson artwork... I knew a guy who had a full-color, hand-sized tattoo on his chest of the T-rex in an F-14. It was literally the coolest thing I've ever seen.
posted by you're a kitty! at 5:43 PM on September 18, 2007 [3 favorites has favorites]

Reading the Wikipedia entry about the end of the strip really left me feeling sad. Of course, I'd be sadder if it would have continued past the point where it was any good.
posted by craniac at 9:32 PM on September 18, 2007

this copy-infringing business allows the stream to hit whatever you want.
posted by k7lim at 12:57 PM on September 19, 2007