The father figure. Both of Calvin's parents are left nameless for the entire comic. The father is not, however, a blank character. He is a general pardoy of Watterson's own father -- they even share the same profession (patent attorney). Watterson's father is the source of the comics "building character" strips. Watterson wrote that they are "usually a verbatim transcript of my dad's explainations for why we were all freezing, exhausted, hungry, and lost on camping trips."