Comic Response - It's not funny

1.) What happens when a cartoon takes on a realistic form? In the case of Rex Morgan, as well as other comics like Prince Valiant, etc., how and why do we interpret them the way that we do? In the case of Calvin and Hobbes, why is the selected cartoon all the more hilarious? (Consider the statement that we envision ourselves as cartoons before you answer).

The Calvin and Hobbes cartoon below is unique in that it combines the realistic and comic forms. The realistic form makes the other characters appear as someone else, unlike me, since I can not relate to their looks, age, or demeanor. With this I take the comic much more seriously, as I would with a film, since it appears as a depiction of reality and, thus, something I believe could actually happen. McCloud references this in how using these realistic appearances can separate our character from the one on the page, but when it returns to a simple comic, we begin to believe that maybe we could have acted in that way. The return to the classic Calvin makes what I saw as horrible as funny, since I could never see myself as what the 'real' doctor was, but I could picture myself as Calvin when I was a child.