Obfuscating Stupidity/Newspaper Comics

Examples of in  include:


 * Calvin and Hobbes: Calvin is apparently a user of this trope, as he once told Susie that it's far easier to keep people's expectations low, and wow them every now and again, then to keep them high and wind up disappointing at some point.
 * A cloning storyline in which Calvin (supposedly) creates a personification of his "good half" to take his classes for him proves this: if the clone is real, than it demonstrates that Calvin could do well in school if he bothered to try; if it's an extended game of make-believe than Calvin really is doing well for a change (if only for the sake of keeping the game going.) Then again, any of Calvin's musings to Hobbes on the nature of existence and reality during any given 'sledding' strip should tip even the most casual reader off that the kid's a freaking genius, it's just that school bores him senseless.
 * From Garfield: Odie, probably. Or he might be Genius Ditz.
 * This is deliberately shown in one strip, when Odie watches Jon, then Garfield exit the house with a wicked smile...only to settle down in a smoking-jacket, pipe, in a plush recliner, watching a show on Classical music with a copy of War & Peace nearby.
 * And in another strip where John, Garfield and Odie go on a picnic and Odie "accidentally" locks the doors of the car, "trapping" himself inside while John and Garfield try to instruct him on unlocking the doors. The final panel has it pouring rain, Odie enjoying the picnic meal while listening to the radio, and John and Garfield stuck in the rain wondering if Odie's not as dumb as he appears.
 * Another strip has Jon struggling to solve a Sudoku puzzle and giving up, Odie examines it and solves it very quickly to Jon's surprise.
 * Roger Fox of FoxTrot is usually a quite legitimate Bumbling Dad. However, from time to time he is able to use this apparent cluelessness to get what he wants. For instance, in a week-arc where his wife forces him to go to an aerobics class, he spends the entire time doing embarrassing things like doing the wrong moves and singing along to the music. She gets so mad that she tells him she's never going to take him to another class...which, as his thought bubble points out, is just what he wanted in the first place.
 * According to one strip of Walter Moers, infants are not only able to talk, but discuss complex topics of philosophy, psychology and the like and only use this trope if adults are around. "Ducky make toot!"