Editing Calvin and Hobbes (section)

===Calvin's alter-egos===
Calvin imagines himself as many great creatures and other people, including [[dinosaur]]s, elephants, jungle-farers and superheroes. Three of his [[alter ego]]s are well-defined and recurrent:<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-01-12 |title=Spaceman Spiff and the Stupendous Man: The Culture Industry in "Calvin and Hobbes" |url=http://www.stripteasethemag.com/spaceman-spiff-and-the-stupendous-man-the-culture-industry-in-calvin-and-hobbes/ |access-date=2022-06-19 |language=en-US}}</ref>
*{{anchor|Spaceman Spiff}}"'''Spaceman Spiff'''" is a heroic spacefarer who narrates his adventures in the [[Third-person pronoun|third person]]. As Spiff, Calvin battles aliens (typically his parents or teacher, but also sometimes other kids his age) with a ray gun known as a "zorcher" (later "frap-ray blaster", "death ray blaster" or "atomic napalm neutralizer") and travels to distant planets (his house, school or neighborhood), often crashing unhurt on a planet. Calvin's self-narration as Spaceman Spiff is frequently riddled with alliteration: "Zounds! Zorched by Zarches, Spaceman Spiff's crippled craft crashes on planet Plootarg!" Watterson has stated the idea of Spaceman Spiff came from an earlier attempt as a cartoon,{{sfnp|Martell|2010|p=28}} and is meant as a parody of [[Flash Gordon]].{{sfnp|Martell|2010|p=58|ps=: "A sarcastic send-up of classic Sci-Fi strips, Spiff paid backhand homage to flashy space heroes like Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon while tapping into the Star Wars craze."}} The canyons and deserts that many of the Spaceman Spiff stories are set in are based on the landscapes of southern Utah.{{sfnp|Watterson|1995|p=69}}
* "'''Tracer Bullet'''" is a [[hardboiled]] private eye, who says he has eight slugs in him ("One's lead, and the rest are bourbon."). In one story, Bullet is called to a case in which a "pushy dame" (Calvin's mother) accuses him of destroying an expensive lamp (broken during an indoor football game between Calvin and Hobbes). Later, he is snatched by the pushy dame's "hired goon" (Calvin's father having a talk with him). In another, he "investigates" a math word problem during class, "closing the case" with an answer of 1,000,000,000 when the correct response was 15. He made his debut when Calvin donned a [[fedora]] in order to hide a terrible haircut Hobbes had given him. These strips are drawn in elaborate, shadowy black-and-white that evoke [[film noir]]. Watterson did not attempt Tracer Bullet stories often, due to the time-consuming way the strip needed to be drawn and inked.<ref>[[#CITEREFWatterson1995|Watterson (1995)]], p. 132.</ref>
{{anchor|Stupendous Man}}
* "'''Stupendous Man'''" is a superhero who wears a mask and a cape (made by Calvin's mother) and narrates his own adventures. While Calvin is in character as Stupendous Man, he refers to his alter ego as a mild-mannered millionaire playboy. Stupendous Man almost always "suffers defeat" at the hands of his opponent. When Hobbes asks if Stupendous Man has ever won any battles, Calvin says all his battles are "moral victories." Stupendous Man's nemeses include "Mom-Lady" (Calvin's mom), "Annoying Girl" (Susie Derkins), "Crab Teacher" (Miss Wormwood) and "Baby-Sitter Girl" (Rosalyn). Some of the "super powers" of the villains have been revealed: Mom-Lady has a "mind scrambling eyeball ray" that wills the victim to "do her nefarious bidding"; and Baby Sitter Girl has a similar power of using a "psycho beam" which weakens "Stupendous Man's stupendous will". The "powers" of Annoying Girl and Crab Teacher are never revealed. Calvin often tries to pretend he and "Stupendous Man" are two different people, but it fails to work. Stupendous Man has multiple "superpowers", including, but not limited to, super strength, the ability to fly, various vision powers such as "high-speed vision", "muscles of magnitude" and a "stomach of steel".