“Jack” is Calvin, and Tyler Durden is Hobbes. Or maybe the other way around. But Marla Singer is definitely Susie Derkins, all grown up.

That’s the premise behind “The Return of Hobbes”, an eerily insightful matchup of Calvin and Hobbes and Fight Club. Makes you wonder if Chuck Palahniuk wasn’t channeling Bill Watterson.

Take this pop-psych assessment of the central social gatherings in both narratives:

And clubs like this, of course, have their beginnings in backyards, tree houses, and garages all over America. Not surprisingly, Calvin started such a club when he was six years old. Little did anyone realize that he would construct another one much later in his life, again with the aid of an imaginary friend. For just as Calvin, Hobbes, and Susie have dark future versions in Jack, Tyler, and Marla respectively, G.R.O.S.S. (Get Rid Of Slimy girlS) has the same in Fight Club…

G.R.O.S.S. and Fight Club both wreak havoc on their respective neighborhoods (G.R.O.S.S.’s target is considerably more focused, i.e., Susie). Clearly, the roots of Fight Club can be seen in G.R.O.S.S. Calvin shows his penchant for such male-oriented, destructive organizations. Also, just like cardboard-box-time-machines and water-gun-transmogrifiers, G.R.O.S.S. was likely created as an escape, a release—as, of course, was Fight Club.

I’m convinced. Nothing in this analysis contradicts Bill Watterson’s backgrounders on his characters. Suffice to say that this colors my consideration of the upcoming “The Complete Calvin and Hobbes” collection. Perhaps a concurrent reading of that and the novel is in order (although maybe it’s better to stick with the film version).