Spaceman Spiff: What If Aliens Are Here To Help Us?
The Comic:
Andrews McMeel Publishing
Spaceman Spiff is Calvin’s Flash Gordon-esque alter ego, usually a daydream distracting him from the droll tones of his teacher, Miss Wormwood. Barren planets are empty classrooms because Calvin’s slept through the lunch bell, aliens become humans from frame to frame, things of that nature. Here, the alien morphs into Calvin’s mom, who offers him a sandwich and lemonade.
Quick fun fact: Watterson invented Spiff back in high school German class as Raumfahrer Rolf. Spiff was subsequently the first strip Watterson submitted to newspaper syndicates. That means in some alternate universe, the syndicates said yes, and the greatest newspaper comic mind of our generation devoted all his mental energy to a space fighter pilot named Rolf.
The Genius: Besides the incredible artwork—detail and color vibrancy that sticks out even in a Sunday strip, plus a whole new world for our established protagonist—what I really love about this strip is Spiff’s overwrought gloom and doom immediately undercut by Alien Calvin’s Mom bringing him a sandwich and lemonade. The visual gag where Spiff changes to Calvin and alien changes to Mom coupled with how casual the dialogue is really work together, but there’s an extra funny layer thanks to alien tropes.
For the longest time, everyone thought the aliens were going to come to earth and kill us. Suction all our resources up like one-eyed, green-tentacled Daniel Plainviews drinking our Earth-milkshake. But as it slowly leaks out from the U.S. military that not only are there probably aliens, but we’ve probably already made contact with them and the end results are so far anticlimactic, this strip feels prophetic.