Calvin and Hobbes' controversial decal is actually pulled from a comic

Calvin and Hobbes creator Bill Watterson has had his say on the bootleg car decal featuring Calvin, which has become a notorious icon.

While the Calvin and Hobbs comic strip rarely sparked any controversy or pushed any boundaries when publishing a proper story, Bill Watson's work was actually elevated to create some of the gnarliest, most notorious cars ever One of the decals. Yes, the "Pissing Calvin" decal that is still in use today is from the Calvin and Hobbes panel - but it originally looked very different from what the sticker depicted.

In Bill Watterson's 1988 Calvin and Hobbes cartoon, the cartoon depicts Calvin filling a water balloon while hiding behind a tree and a barrel before launching his attack . The comic is relatively innocuous, but the first drawing of the comic where Calvin reaches to fill a balloon has become recognizable as it's turned into a decal showing the titular character taking a piss. A "Peeing Calvin"-themed image dates back to a 1995 RV with a sticker from a University of Florida football fan showing him urinating on an FSU sign. The unauthorized decals, which end up on the back of trucks across North America, are growing in popularity in the South.

Bill Watterson Did Not Approve The Controversial Drawing

And Calvin and Hobbes decals Used more and more over the years, the comic's creator, Bill Watson, never sanctioned the controversial sticker. Watson has a reputation for protecting his creations, turning down hundreds of millions of dollars over the course of his career. As a result, Calvin and Hobbs created very little merchandise or non-comic content. Also, given his adamant stance against licensing the character, he didn't sign off on the decal.

Bill Watterson has a good sense of humor about the controversial decals with his Calvin and Hobbes creations, as he would tell his publisher that he was "obviously wrong Calvin pissing on a Ford logo would be a hit.” Still, Watterson has to be a little jarring to see his drawing elevated to such a bizarre, repugnant, and popular image—because the decal is in Defiled his work while being used as a vulgar symbol.

Thus, while the "Calvin the Pising" decal was taken from one of Watson's comic strips, the image was heavily edited to feature the character urinating, rather than the original panel, where he filled A water balloon. Somehow, the controversial bootleg sticker has become a popular vehicle decal, just like Calvin To this day, people can still be seen pissing on a lot of things—mainly sports teams. However, those who put stickers on their cars and claim to be comic book fans completely miss the point of Calvin and Hobbes, as Bill Watson certainly wouldn't approve of them.