Calvin and Hobbes



Calvin and Hobbes is a classic comic strip about a boy named Calvin and his stuffed tiger Hobbes, who comes to life when no one else save Calvin is around.

Any fic at all is rather confounding for the Calvin and Hobbes canon as it is a series of short strips, page spreads, and episodic short story arcs. In fact, Calvin and Hobbes ran as a newspaper comic strip in some areas. One of its overarching themes is the fun that kids have that adults always seem to miss. Calvin groaning at icky tuna casserole, staying up past his bedtime, making ridiculous winter snowmen, being pounced by Hobbes every time he gets home from school, and declaring girls are icky are primary subjects, all of which showcase childish reactions paired with a strangely mature style of reasoning.

In other words, there is no Serious Business&mdash;unless deep, introspective monologues about the nature of things count, bearing in mind that these are usually undercut by sledding off the edge of a cliff followed by Calvin declaring that he has learned nothing. This, combined with the episodic nature of the comics, makes it very incompatible with the token fanfiction community. From the adaptation between mediums to the no-drama (beyond 'Mom is making me take a BATH! OH NO!') story ideas, it's just very hard to write goodfic about.

Hence, where there is fic, a lot of it is bad. Actually, fanart is more popular.

Badfic


It is not unheard of for a tiger Mary Sue to steal Hobbes' heart.

Introducing any kind of seriousness or inappropriate subject matter probably indicates badfic. For some reason, fangirls like to age up the characters and push them into romance. Depending on how bad it is, adding mature themes, gushy romance, or Serious Business may be a charge simply for how badly it clashes with the spirit of the original comic. In a short, daily comic, the tone and themes are integral to its canon.

Cardboard Box Technology
Calvin's cardboard box can serve as a Duplicator, Transmogrifier, or time machine. The orientation of the box indicates which is which: open side up means a time machine, open side to the side means a Duplicator, and open side down means a Transmogrifier.