Secondary Characters in Calvin and Hobbes - Other Characters

Other Characters

• Extraterrestrial Life Forms: Calvin encounters many extraterrestrial life-forms in the course of the strip, usually during adventures as his alter-ego, Spaceman Spiff. Most of these aliens are non-humanoid, bizarre monsters, but they frequently turn out to be merely Calvin's imaginative perception of Susie, his parents and teachers. Initially, many of the aliens spoke in garbled, somewhat onomatopoetic language, with lines like "Ugga muk bluh Spiff." Later, some aliens' speech balloons contained geometric symbols with unclear phonetic values, or had a blocky, semi-computer-like font. In the strip's final year, Watterson drew two stories involving recurring alien characters, Galaxoid and Nebular, to whom Calvin sold the Earth for 50 alien leaves to use for his science project, which he failed because no one believed they were alien tree leaves (Susie notes "It looks like you took 50 maple leaves and cut them into weird shapes"). They returned in the final two weeks of strips, angry at Calvin because he failed to tell them about the changing seasons. After complaining that they were greatly overcharged and demanding Calvin bring the Earth up to code, Hobbes eventually gave them his and Calvin's Christmas stockings to keep warm; he then reminds the sulking Calvin that he did something good, whereupon Calvin perks up knowing that will improve his credit with Santa Claus.
• Doctor: Calvin occasionally visits his pediatrician, who appears to be a mild-mannered physician with a friendly demeanor. Calvin, however, sees him as a vicious, sadistic interrogator, sometimes visualizing him as an alien or overreacting to his playful diagnoses. At one point he frustrates the good doctor so much that he warns Calvin to not force him to "recant the Hippocratic Oath". In one strip, he says, slightly exasperated, after Calvin frantically asks what one of the doctor tools is and whether it will hurt, "It's a cattle prod. It hurts a little less than a branding iron." Calvin promptly faints, causing the doctor to say that "Little kids have no sense of humor". When the doctor gives Calvin a shot in the next strip, Calvin screams hysterically and promises that the doctor will be sued for medical malpractice. In a check-up later, Calvin tries to fight away the doctor, believing he needs a shot. Even though Calvin's mom said he didn't need a shot, Calvin retorts, "He thinks I'm a little pink pin cushion in underpants." A much later appearance of the doctor came when he diagnosed Calvin with influenza, and commented how unlike before, Calvin was a good patient due to his weakened state. However, Calvin's mother did not like the doctor's recommendation that he be quarantined in his bedroom, saying she would "rather have his teacher deal with him". The doctor made his final appearance when he diagnosed Calvin with chicken pox.
• Principal Spittle: Calvin's school principal is Mr. Spittle. He usually makes his appearance when Calvin has gone too far in testing Miss Wormwood's limits. He is portrayed as the same stale, academic type of character as Miss Wormwood. Mr. Spittle rarely speaks in the strip; typically, he is seen in the last frame looking over his desk as Calvin tries to explain his latest mishap, either with an apathetic or infuriated expression in his face. He is sometimes seen pressing the ends of his fingers together. He once said he hated his job after Calvin and Susie were sent there and begging him not to spank them. Another time the principal was involved when Calvin tore his pants. Despite all efforts by Calvin not to make a scene or to hide his exposed underwear, he is forced by Miss Wormwood to write on the blackboard. When recounting the story to Hobbes and being asked how his embarrassing experience got him sent home early, Calvin said "Three teachers and the principal could not restore order", implying Principal Spittle suspended the entire class for uproariously laughing at Calvin and not wanting to do any schoolwork.
• Classmates: The reader sees various classmates of Calvin, but other than Susie and Moe they are almost entirely anonymous. Calvin seems only vaguely aware of them, but when he does pay attention to them they are always simply an audience, seeing Calvin as the misbehaving minority who makes things difficult for the conforming majority. Some one-time appearances are Tommy Chesnutt (who was allegedly eaten by Hobbes), Russy White, Filthy Rich, Blake, Ronald, Jessica, Flow, Claire, Clarance and Candace. There are a total of thirty students in the class.
• Mr. Lockjaw: Mr. Lockjaw is the gym teacher and coach of the baseball team at Calvin's school. He is a squat, burly man with little patience for people like Calvin who lack a competitive spirit. When Calvin leaves the baseball team, Lockjaw calls him a "quitter", and this emotional trauma leads to the reader's first encounter with Calvinball.
• Scouts: Early in the strip, Watterson shows Calvin participating with other children in Cub Scout activities in the woods. Watterson thought at the time that scouting might offer some potential for interesting adventures, but eventually abandoned the idea, considering it uncharacteristic of Calvin to join an organization, and viewing it as a distraction from Calvin's intentionally personal world (much as Calvin himself did). Only one scout ever appears. However, Hobbes uses a Cub Scout manual to get Calvin untied from a chair on one occasion.
• Charlie: Also called Chuck or Chaz by Calvin. Charlie is Rosalyn's boyfriend. Rosalyn usually has to postpone a date to watch Calvin, so he usually calls the house and often Calvin picks up, trying to convince Charlie that Rosalyn is a "sadistic kid hater."
• Susie's mom: She is shown from the waist down in a foiled attempt to pester Susie, and is also seen having a brief dialogue during Susie's first experience with Calvin's alter-ego, Stupendous Man.
• Substitute teachers: Occasionally, Calvin's class will have a substitute teacher. However, only two are named. One was a man named Mr. Kneecapper, who, as Calvin tells Susie, had once killed a student. Before he is named, Calvin learns that Miss Wormwood is sick and they have a substitute teacher, he asks, "Can I send in a substitute student?". In one set of strips, a woman is substituting; she looks through some notes Calvin's teacher left and inquires which child Calvin is. Later, Hobbes asks Calvin what he thought of her, Calvin replies he is unsure as "she went home after noon."
• Mabel Syrup: The author of Hamster Huey and the Gooey Kablooie and Commander Coriander Salamander and 'er Singlehander Bellylander.
• Monsters: the primary villains in the comic strip, along with Moe and Rosalyn. Calvin has monsters under his bed who have a plan to kill and eat him but invariably he easily outsmarts them, as they are "All teeth and digestive tract, no brains at all". One of them was named Maurice, and another one is named Winslow.
• Calvin's Bicycle: Given to Calvin by his dad, the bike is a mindless killing machine. A supporting villain, it will frequently chase (and even sometimes run over) Calvin, destroying household items in the process. In early strips the bicycle did not have a life of its own. It would just fall over, because Calvin had no balance. As Calvin could never learn how to ride the bike, and as he had so many accidents trying, he began to think the bike hated him, causing it to gain a life of its own. From then on it would start moving all on its own accord, chasing Calvin around. In one story, it is accidentally let into Calvin's house and nearly destroys it, with Calvin only surviving by locking himself out on the roof; in another, Calvin remarks that he thinks his father gave him the bike to try to kill him. Calvin's father once remarks, when he and Calvin's mother are fixing Calvin up after he attempts to tackle the bike into submission, "When I was a kid and learning how to ride a bike, I never got my face stuck in the gear chain," while Calvin is yowling in agony as soap is put on his wounds.
• The Martian: As seen in one story, when Calvin and Hobbes become fed up with living on Earth with pollution by leaving to Mars. While initially enjoying the place with its unspoiled beauty, they become terrified when they meet a Martian (with it being as comically terrified of them as they are of it). The creature is small, with several tentacles on the bottom, with a large mouth, two eyes on eye-stalks like a snail, and covered in purple polka-dots with a green main body, slightly resembling a small octopus in anatomy. Calvin and Hobbes soon realize that they are not welcome there, as the Martians are worried that mankind will come to their planet and ravage it like how they have done it to theirs, with Calvin and Hobbes leaving, remarking they should fix up their own planet before they mess up anyone else's planet, and Hobbes remarking that their reputation preceded them.