What famous comic strip characters were named for a theologian and a philosopher?
Garfield the Cat and Jon Arbuckle
Calvin and Hobbes
80%
Correct
Blondie and Dagwood
Charlie Brown and Lucy
Fans of the Sunday funny pages might know them best as the mischievous blonde boy and his dutiful, wise toy tiger, but cartoonist Bill Watterson drew inspiration for the names of his most famous creation from 16th-century French theologian John Calvin and 17th-century British philosopher Thomas Hobbes.
Calvin was a prominent figure of the Protestant Reformation who believed that individuals were either predestined for salvation or damnation. Hobbes, best remembered for his book 1651 “Leviathan,” was an important theorist who argued that life in a state of nature is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short” and that humans give up freedoms to enter into a social contract with one another.
The comic strip “Calvin and Hobbes,” which ran from 1985 to 1995, featured Watterson’s seemingly childish duo often embodying larger existential debates such as how best to live one’s life or the pros and cons of institutional systems. Watterson famously kept a close hold over the rights to the characters, refusing to merchandise their popularity in exchange for artistic integrity. The anthologized strip has sold 45 million books worldwide, and it remains beloved."
Source: Los Angeles Times | Date Updated: May 24, 2021
