We’ve all seen the many varieties of “Calvin Peeing” stickers out there, and we’ve seen “Jesus Fish” and things like that, but now there seems to be some sort of new amalgamation…a decal of Calvin, on his knees, praying to a Christian cross!
The cartoon Calvin just never struck me as the religious type. Sure, he might choose to exercise his right to “school prayer” before a test, but he’s not the type to be handing Jack Chick tracts to Susie at the bus stop or anything like that. For one thing, I doubt Hobbes would ever stand for it.
Is it all right to steal copyrighted material in Jesus’ name?
Is this sticker the sign of a Calvinist?
Has anyone else seen this? Are there variations (Calvin praying to a Star of David, Buddha, a pentagram, a Chevy logo, a Ford logo, etc.)? And, it also started me wondering–has anyone ever seen a sticker with Calvin peeing on the Christian cross? I’d just be amazed that there would be anyone out there brave enough to be that crass!
I’ve seen the praying Calvin for some time. Please note that not all Christians are Jack Chick spewing fundies. I don’t think it’s ethical to use his image on those decals.
I saw something that really surprised me, a truck with Calvin and Hobbes in the back window… No urination, no praying, just the two of them in a grinning action pose probably lifted straight from a Sunday comic. It was refreshing to see unaltered images even if they were copyright violations.
Bill Waterson, the creator of Calvin and Hobbes, never authorized any liscencing (sp?). No T-shirts, no mugs, and, I’m pretty sure, no decals, praying or otherwise.
Ok, just ignore that last post, as it was the leadoff of a post I completely screwed up - the folowing is what I want to say:
What really gets me about these Christian decal on your car things is the complete lack of originality. The whole Calvin peeing on the logos thing was popular, so now let’s have Calvin praying to a cross.
“Thou shalt not steal? What? Oh that doesn’t apply when we’re spreading the word.” Yeah, ok buddy.
Plus there’s the whole Jesus Fish thing, then the Darwin fish with legs (which I thought was kind of clever and harmed no one), but then people retaliate with a Truth fish eating a Darwin fish - implying none-too-subtly that evolution is a big fat lie. Not quite reinforcing the Christian tenet of turning the other cheek, are we now?
But you’re right Tamex. It’s not something Clavin would really do unless he wanted a miracle to get him out of some trouble he’d gotten himself into. In fact, the only thing I’ve ever seen Calvin bow before in the comic strip was the television (I have all the books but one).
And please ignore the bit in my first post about “how do we know it’s stolen.” I was going to get rid of that, but accidentally hit Submit instead of Preview.
As Padeye said though, try to keep in mind that not all Christians are Republican homophobic Bible thumping fundies. I’d like to think that I’m not.
Darn, you beat me to it. I too was going to say that Bill Watterson never allowed any sort of merchandising of his creations. From reading his statement about this, I got the impression that it was because he didn’t want people putting their own interpretations on Calvin and Hobbes. So, it has always been just the comic strip. I think that the Calvin peeing and the Calvin praying are two good examples of this. Are these what Calvin would have done in any given situation? You’re not Bill Watterson, so you don’t know. That’s why I have a real problem with both of these decals. Stealing I may be able to get past, but mucking around with someone’s philosophical paradigm, that’s low.
Hmmm…do you suppose they got the image of Calvin bowing from that strip? Cut out TV, paste in cross. Change Calvin from a materialistic, selfish little brat to a pious, God-fearing angelic child. It’s almost as bad as those dirty posters of Disney characters, really…and not even funny, to boot!
Why not Calvin peeing on Satan? Might be a bit easier to believe.
I did not mean to imply that all Christians were “Jack Chick spewing fundies.” I apologize if it sounds like I did.
Personally, I’d drive off the road laughing if I saw a sticker of Calvin peeing on the cross. Although this seems a bit closer to the original comics, I doubt I’ll see that any time soon.
I’ve seen the ‘Calvin praying’ stricker with the phrase:
“Dear Lord, please forgive me for peeing on things” (or words to that effect).
Also, if you look closely at a lot of these stickers, they seem to be redrawn in the style of (but not quite) Calvin, enough to give you the idea that it is Calvin.
Then again, it might just be a rather badly-drawn Calvin.
You didn’t really, but often, topics of this kind take that slant as people relay their bad fundie experiences - of which there are many. As a Christian myself, the behavior of some of these fundies who follow religion like sheep and refuse to think for themselves embarasses me.
A Florida man was arrested in a small speed-trap town for displaying a Calvin peeing sticker on his truck’s mudflap. He had been warned several times before to remove the sticker, which he tried to do. He was arrested under the town’s decency laws, and he’s not even from there! He was travelling with his 14-year-old son to get some parts from a junkyard.
I personally wish that one day I’d pick up the newspaper and see the front-page headline which declares that the courts have affirmed that Bill Watterson will collect 100,000 in copyright infringement fines from every driver on the road with one of those !#@%!@*&!? Calvin-peeing, Calvin-pooping, Calvin-praying, Calvin-whatever stickers on their vehicles.
I loveCalvin and Hobbes, and I really hate how all those bootlegs are messin’ with the sanctity of the character…
Um…I have one. Calvin peeing on the logo for the University of Louisville. I understand how you feel. But, by the same token, the character was never copyrighted, so it’s fair game.
