Susie Derkins...



Bill Watterson on Susie,

Susie is earnest, serious, and smart - the kind of girl I was attracted to in school and eventually married. "Derkins" was the nickname of my wife's family's beagle. The early strips with Susie were heavy-handed with the love-hate conflict, and it's taken me a while to get a bead on Susie's relationship with Calvin. I suspect Calvin has a mild crush on her that he expresses by trying to annoy her, but Susie is a bit unnerved and put off by Calvin's weirdness. This encourages Calvin to be even weirder, so it's a good dynamic. Neither of them quite understands what's going on, which is probably true of most relationships. I sometimes imagine a strip from Susie's point of view would be interesting, and after so many strips about boys, I think a strip about a little girl, drawn by a woman, could be great.


Some context:

So, Susie and Calvin are supposed to be partnering up in class for a project on the planet Mercury. It's a moment that Susie truly dreads. She is scared that she'll flunk because Calvin spent all his time researching on Martians, and have to end up going to a second rate college thanks to her idiot partner.


Gosh, I love this strip. To Calvin and Susie, forever living off scraps.



Here's to you, Susie Derkins.

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