5 of the Funniest ‘Calvin and Hobbes’ Halloween Comics
Collier Jennings is an entertainment journalist with extensive experience. Collier, or "CJ" to his friends and family, is a dedicated fan of genre films - particularly science fiction, fantasy, and comic book adaptations, not to mention all forms of animation. This stems from a close bond with his father, who introduced him to these genres via copies of X-Men comics and reruns of the original Ultraman series. With his near-encyclopedic knowledge and bottomless love of genre, he's tackled a wide variety of articles.
Halloween is just around the corner, so it's time to brush the dust off some long-standing traditions. Some people revisit their favorite movies, whether it's The Nightmare Before Christmas or A Nightmare on Elm Street. Others dress up in their best costumes and party all night. For comic fans, Halloween is a chance to relive favorite stories, and Calvin and Hobbes is no exception. The titular duo loves Halloween, or more specifically, dressing up in costumes and eating candy. Remember, this comic is about a six-year-old boy and his talking stuffed tiger.
What makes Calvin and Hobbes stand out from other comic strips—at least when it comes to Halloween—is that creator Bill Watterson crafted only a handful of Halloween-focused strips during the series' decade-long run. Yet five of these strips packed plenty of the humor and genre-bending that make Calvin and Hobbes a standout in the comic book world, while also capturing the Halloween spirit. Whether it's a spin on classic Halloween traditions or spoofing the holiday and all its trappings, Calvin and Hobbes made the most of its Halloween strips.
Calvin Gets A Little Too Into the Halloween Spirit
One of the earliest Calvin and Hobbes Halloween strips shows the titular duo preparing to carve their own pumpkin. Things start off innocently enough: Calvin draws a face on the pumpkin and tells Hobbes they'll have to cut open the top and scoop out all the pumpkin's innards. What follows next is a truly unhinged panel: Calvin grabs a knife and shouts, "OK, Jack, time for your lobotomy!" Hobbes, looking like he's about to puke, comments that the pumpkin could use a bit of anesthetic.
While this strip takes a left turn at the end, it perfectly captures Calvin's energy and how relatable he is to younger readers. Carving a pumpkin and scooping out its pulp is a Halloween rite of passage for every child, and Calvin embraces that tradition head-on. This strip also features the dark humor that underpins certain Calvin and Hobbes strips, which makes it appeal to adults and younger viewers alike. It also reminds us this is a comic strip, since Calvin is using a knife without supervision—something that wouldn't fly in the real world.
Calvin's Father Has an Unusual Halloween Tradition
Another Calvin and Hobbes strip would focus on Halloween, showing that everyone has different traditions. Calvin's dad is no exception, as Calvin and Hobbes discuss his plans. Hobbes incorrectly guesses that Calvin's dad will take them trick-or-treating or even stay home and hand out candy. Calvin finally reveals that his dad is planning to sit in the bushes near their house and drench certain trick-or-treaters with a water hose. He's targeting those who think of putting the "trick" back into "trick or treat," especially those who toss toilet paper at houses.
This approach might seem drastic, but it shows Calvin is more like his father than he thinks. Most Calvin and Hobbes strips portray Calvin's dad as somewhat uptight and unwilling to put up with Calvin's antics, but this is one of the few times when he indulges in the kind of mischief that is common for Calvin and Hobbes. Anyone who's scraped eggs off their windows or pulled mountains of toilet paper off their lawn after Halloween can relate to Calvin's dad, or step into his shoes and give any would-be pranksters a cold shower.
Calvin and Hobbes Feel The Aftermath of Halloween
The day after Halloween usually feels odd. Maybe it's the dawning realization that the costume you spent months thinking about is now crumpled at the foot of your bed. Or maybe it's waking up to find your house was the target of pranks, meaning your morning will be spent cleaning up a massive mess. For Calvin and Hobbes, it's the ill effects of consuming too much candy. As they climb out of bed, they look queasy; Hobbes even says he'll barf if someone mentions Milk Duds. It's the final line by Calvin that really stands out, as it perfectly captures the real horrors that happen after Halloween: "It's always such a letdown after a holiday. We might as well go into town and look at the Christmas decorations."
Ironically, Calvin predicted the future when it comes to the transition between Halloween and Christmas. Most people will immediately take down their Christmas decorations the minute Halloween's over, and plenty of stores will start pushing Christmas deals and decor (or even go the extra mile and start blasting Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas is You" through the speakers). It's a lot to deal with, and sometimes it'll make you wish next year's Halloween would come faster or that people would remember Thanksgiving's the next holiday on the calendar. Calvin had a point: the end of a holiday can be a real letdown, especially when you love it.
Collider Exclusive · 8 Questions · 2 Minutes What Is Your Biggest Horror Nightmare? Elm Street · Chucky · Scream · The Conjuring
Four horror franchises. Four completely different ways of scaring you. One waits until you fall asleep. One makes sure nobody believes you. One is already in your group of friends. And one is in the house with your family. Answer eight quick questions about how you actually watch horror, and find out which nightmare was built for you.
😴Elm Street(Freddy Krueger)
🧸Chucky(Child's Play)
📞Scream(Ghostface)
🕯️The Conjuring(The Warren Files)
01
Which horror scene makes you cover your eyes? Four classic images. One of them is worse than the others for you.
02
You are home alone and you hear a noise. First thought? Everybody has one. It arrives before you have decided anything.
03
Which horror movie rule would you break first? Everybody thinks they would survive. Almost nobody actually does.
04
Something genuinely frightening happens. What do you do? Not in a film. In your actual living room, tonight.
05
How do you actually watch a horror film? Be honest about this one. Nobody is checking.
06
Somebody offers you serious money. Which do you still refuse? The amount does not matter. There is one on this list you are not doing.
07
Which feeling stays with you a week after the film? Good horror does not stop when the credits do.
08
Something wakes you at 3am. What is the worst possibility? Eight questions in, this is the one that decides your nightmare.
The Lights Just Went Out Your Nightmare Is…
Four franchises, four completely different ways of getting underneath your skin. This is the one built out of your particular fear, why it works so well on you, and what it would leave behind.
Elm Street
Your nightmare does not wait outside the door. It waits for you to close your eyes, which you are going to have to do eventually, because nobody has ever won that particular argument.
- Freddy is horror's cruellest idea: a threat that lives in the one place you cannot guard, cannot lock, and cannot avoid forever.
- You are the one who is fine during the film and wide awake at two in the morning. Your own head is where this does its damage.
- These films understood exhaustion as a horror engine. The kids on Elm Street do not lose because they are weak. They lose because they are tired.
- You can lock every door in the house. You still have to sleep.
Chucky
Your nightmare is not really the doll. It is the face of the person you tell, and the way they decide, very kindly, that you have imagined all of it.
- Chucky works precisely because he is absurd. That is the trap: the more accurately you describe him, the less anybody is going to believe you.
- You are the one shouting at the screen because the characters are not listening. You know that feeling from real life too.
- The franchise is at its best when the adults in the room are the real obstacle, and you have met those adults.
- By the time somebody finally believes you, you will have handled most of it on your own.
Scream
Your nightmare has your number, knows your name, and has almost certainly been inside your house before. The worst part is that you already know them.
- Scream is the only one of these where the killer takes the mask off and turns out to be somebody who was at the party.
- You are the person who calls the twist out loud before it lands. You watch people the same way you watch films.
- The franchise made the rules of horror part of the plot, which means the survivors are the ones paying attention. You would be paying attention.
- Everybody is a suspect, including the person who just offered to walk you home.
The Conjuring
Your nightmare is not really about you. It is about the people asleep down the hall, and the feeling that whatever is here is not interested in leaving.
- The Conjuring films are domestic horror. The house, the family, the perfectly ordinary room that quietly stops feeling ordinary.
- Your instinct is to get everybody into one room. Your fear is protective rather than personal, which is rarer than it sounds.
- This is the one franchise where belief is the weapon. The people who come through it are the ones who are not alone and refuse to be.
- Whatever is here did not come for you. It came for the household, and you are the one standing in the hallway.
Calvin Picks an Unorthodox Halloween Costume
One of the more surprising Calvin and Hobbes Halloween strips doesn't start with candy or spooky images. Instead, it shows a massive Tyrannosaurus rex stomping through the forest and delivering grim proclamations about the bloody carnage it can wreak with its jaws. While this scene feels ripped right out of Jurassic Park, it gives way to the strip's punchline: Calvin in a dinosaur costume, scarfing down handfuls of candy. When his mother admonishes him and says he'll get sick, Calvin replies, "But Mom, I earned it!"
This strip is just one of many examples of how Calvin's imagination could run wild. It also let Bill Watterson switch up his style, delivering images that felt far more realistic than the main strip's cartoony vibe. In fact, some of Calvin and Hobbes' best stories involve dinosaurs, as Waterson loved drawing the massive lizards in vivid detail. Halloween wouldn't be the first time Calvin imagined he was a T. rex, nor was it the most outlandish—that honor goes to a strip where he imagines he's a T. rex piloting a fighter jet. It's the most fun, though, thanks to the setting.
This 'Calvin and Hobbes' Strip Takes a Morbid Approach to Halloween
Perhaps the most impactful Halloween strip for Calvin and Hobbes doesn't have dinosaurs or Hobbes. Instead, it shows Calvin going up to a neighbor's house on his own. When the neighbor asks who he is, Calvin gleefully replies:
"I'm yet another resource-consuming kid in an overpopulated planet, raised to an alarming extent by Madison Avenue and Hollywood, poised with my cynical and alienated peers to take over the world when you're old and weak!"
It then cuts to Calvin munching on candy and saying to himself, "Am I scary, or what?" The humor lies in how morbid Calvin's proclamation is, tapping into the evergreen fear of being replaced by younger counterparts. More specifically, it hit at the idea that a generation raised on Calvin and Hobbes and The Simpsons would become the dominant cultural force.
Though Calvin and Hobbes doesn't have many Halloween-themed strips, the ones that do stand out for their mix of humor, social commentary, and observations on Halloween traditions. They've also stood the test of time and are more than worth reading this holiday season. Just keep an eye out for kids who prefer tricks to treats, and save a bit of candy for later.
- Release Date
- October 9, 1993
- Runtime
- 76 minutes
- Director
- Henry Selick
- Writers
- Caroline Thompson, Tim Burton
- Producers
- Denise Di Novi, Don Hahn, Tim Burton
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Chris Sarandon
Jack Skellington (voice)
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Jack Skellington (singing) / Barrel / Clown with the Tear away Face (voice)
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.