"Calvin and Hobbes" Creator Bill Watterson Looks Back With No Regrets

With fifteen years separating us from the last appearance of "Calvin and Hobbes" on the comic pages, reclusive artist Bill Watterson gave a rare interview reminiscing about his legacy. "The only part I understand is what went into the creation of the strip. What readers take away from it is up to them. Once the strip is published, readers bring their own experiences to it, and the work takes on a life of its own. Everyone responds differently to different parts. I just tried to write honestly, and I tried to make this little world fun to look at, so people would take the time to read it. That was the full extent of my concern. You mix a bunch of ingredients, and once in a great while, chemistry happens. I can't explain why the strip caught on the way it did, and I don't think I could ever duplicate it. A lot of things have to go right all at once."

Comments

Calvin and Hobbes quotes

[skyriser2]

"I say, if your knees aren't green by the end of the day, you ought to seriously re-examine your life."
- Calvin, Calvin and Hobbes

More Calvin and Hobbes quotes on QuoteAddict:
http://www.quoteaddict.com/quotes?search=calvin

Re:some others should take note

[Locke2005]

I don't know about that, I've always kinda liked Dysfunctional Family Circus!

Re:The Far Side and the "Geek Cred"

[barzok]

Larson used science as the basis for many of his strips.

And science returned the favor.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thagomizer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strigiphilus_garylarsoni
http://www.janegoodall.org/product/far-side-t-shirt-front-cartoon

Re:Best comics

[lawpoop]

This "The pills must be working" strip has got to be phony. First, in this example of it, the copyright date is 1986. Back then, ADD was on nobody's radar screen, and certainly not pills for it, and anybody hearing about a child being on pills for any mental disease would have been horrified, and had no idea what this strip was about. Putting children on speed for ADD was a meme that blew up in the 90s.

Secondly, there are a few clues that this isn't a real strip. First, the four-panel daily comics were never in color, even to this day. So the loss of color in the last panel that seems integral to this comic's story is a tip-off. Second, when Waterson doesn't put dialogue in bubbles, there is a single line emanating from the character speaking, like this. Notice also that Hobbes never moves in the purported authentic strip. That's a no-no among serious comics -- they always move things around from panel to panel, to keep visual attention. Notice how Hobbes moves in the second, real comic. First he looks at Calvin, then us, then the paper. Motion in each panel.

Also it seems to me that the lettering isn't as space-consuming as it is in authentic Waterson strips. Too much white space. I don't recall any white-space back-and-forth like in the first panel -- certainly not with that much white space. When two people are dialoguing in the same panel, he puts words in bubbles.

Notice too that there are *no* word bubbles in this cartoon. In the examples I just found in a google image search, bubbles were the norm. This strip is the opposite. Finally, I've read all the Calvin and Hobbes anthologies several times and don't recall this strip ever. This is the first I've seen of it :)

Oh, I was doing some more googling, and here's another obvious forgery. Notice how in this one also, Calvin and Hobbes never move in the strip. Of course, the fonts of the lettering give it away, but I think this one was intended to be an obvious phony. And here's another bad copy.

Don't get me wrong; I like the message of the strip! It's just not Waterson :)

Re:Best comics

[lawpoop]

Man, why is this getting modded "Troll"? Waxy.org says in December of '04 ( with another crappy version of it )

Image: Calvin (The ADD Remix) (originally created by Jordan Fish for the Wesleyan Argus)

Sheesh. Sorry you guys really want it to be from Watterson, but it's not. Just have a flippin' look at it!