Caption:
Back in his college days, Igor was known as the HBOC.
Alt text:
ALL / LIBRARY
Hunch Back on Campus?
Hunch Back of Our College?
But yours makes more sense.
It’s a reference to BMOC, or “Big Man on Campus”.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/big man on campus
an important and well-known person especially at a school
The quarterback of the football team is a real big man on campus.
Fun fact: this comic is how I learned about the term when I was a kid. I had to ask my mom to explain it.
Here’s where it gets weird though… There’s a 1989 movie called Big Man on Campus (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Man_on_Campus) which is based (loosely) on the Hunchback of Notre Dame and that even has the alternate title The Hunchback of UCLA.
This comic came out in 1993, so maybe Larson was inspired by the movie?
I figured as much. Mine only works if he’s at Notre Dame University, and it’s a pretty oblique joke.