Slashdot Mirror
Bill Watterson (briefly) Returns To Comics
New submitter amosh writes: 'Bill Watterson was the author of the immensely popular "Calvin and Hobbes" comic strip in the 80s and 90s, until he retired and removed himself entirely from the public eye. Since his retirement in 1995, he has become a recluse, and has not drawn a published daily comic strip — until now. This week, Watterson came out of exile to draw the 2nd panel of three of Stephan Pastis' "Pearls Before Swine" strips. Watterson has lost none of his style or talent, and a fourth strip — drawn by Pastis alone and published today, June 7 — is a lovely homage to Watterson's ending of Calvin and Hobbes. The Washington Post has the story of how it all happened.'
To stop cartooning. Beatle Baily, Hagar the Horrible, Garfield and yes... I'll even go far as Dilbert (I'm sure blasphemy to geeks around here) are worn out strips that are recycling the same dumb gags and phone-it-in art over and over. I actually respect Waterson for quitting in his prime.
AccountKiller
I don't. Not that I rate those other artists, but because - like the Simpsons post series 7 - he'd have done some great, great work. I don't think less of someone because they peaked and went downhill; it detracts nothing from the best stuff.
With online distribution, he could draw whatever he wanted without as many limits, and while limitations do breed creativity, they can also put you in a box.
But I suspect he's too bitter to try.
Or is he?
Calvin and Hobbes is still syndicated all over the world and according to sales figure I saw a couple of years ago, he is conservatively pulling in a couple hundred thousand dollars a year from the sales of Calvin and Hobbes books (there are 18 of them).
Not bad for a guy who hasn't worked since 1995.
At the same time, it makes me sad because it reminds me there is nothing quite like Calvin and Hobbes, and I miss it.
I've decided to Diversify my Holdings. I've divided my cash between my left and right pockets, instead of all in one.
Are you sure he's a recluse? You can be out of the public eye and not be a recluse.
http://stephanpastis.wordpress...
You want sad? Read this, made me cry like a little girl (in the best possible way).
There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
Not to mention "Law & Order," they've done way too many spin-offs and the whole thing is just played out. Watterson should have quit that, too, and moved to selling robot insurance full time.
Thanks to the War on Drugs, it's easier to buy meth than it is to buy cold medicine!
Obviously not the same, but heartwarming nonetheless, Hobbes and Bacon: http://imgur.com/gallery/tUzAL
RETURN without GOSUB in line 1050
Get Fuzzy! Enough said.
Very often, people confuse simple with simplistic. The nuance is lost on most. - Clement Mok
In the 80s, I preferred Gary Larson anyways.
Sadly I have to agree. All the strips that have been around for a while are on auto-pilot, coasting along on their fame. The creators are putting zero effort into them.
I'm not sure if it's just recycling gags, or if it's just that the gags were mind-blowingly awesome in the time and culture of their prime, but have since faded right along with the times and culture in which they were spawned.
Take Dilbert for example. When it came out (in the 1990s, y'all), it was a badass tour-de-force that ripped right into the buzzword bullshit culture that corporate America was at the time. As long as that culture was prevalent**, the overall meme was fully relevant, and it resonated deeply with the cubicle-dwelling audience. Fast forward to today, where much of that has faded - and with it, the whole basis of humor behind Dilbert has sort of faded with it.
Beetle Bailey (mentioned way earlier) is similar - it's based on frickin' army humor from what - maybe WWII? When it rocked the funny pages, most of the audience was either in the military or a veteran thereof, so the gags and storylines instantly resonated. All the gags and storylines in Bloom County resonated with the Reagan era, and would be way non-relevant today.
** in many cases it still is relevant today, but really - not nearly as much as it was back then, when every fiscal quarter brought the employees a new mandatory box that we were forced by policy to think outside of.
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
The Simpon's for instance could have been cancelled a few years ago, but the actors realized they could be replaced, and I guess having work at half the rate of sitcom actors was better than having no work at all.
could have? More like should have. That poor shark probably has Matt Groening's footprints all over its back in multiple paths by now...
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
All *you* remember are the bootleg pissing decals. (he never licensed the characters for stuff like that, which his why, despite great demand, there is no 'official' Hobbes stuffed animal) The rest of us remember 18 books worth of childhood with a real tiger as a best pal, and awesome adventures.
I've decided to Diversify my Holdings. I've divided my cash between my left and right pockets, instead of all in one.
Just because you only find depreciated women and choking a child the height of humor doesn't mean the rest of us don't enjoy the subtle humor and story change that the Simpsons have grown up to become.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
As a matter of fact Watterson never licensed any part of C&H for anything. The guy could have made a medium to large sized fortune if he had, but to him the integrity of the strip was FAR more important. The only reason it is running is certain places is because King Features Syndicate has the right to redistribute the comic.
I was a huge fan of the strip. I mean I knew it had to happen at some point, but I was heartbroken when it stopped.
When my son was born I named him Calvin ( my maternal grandfather ), but the running joke is that he was named after the character. When he was two 3 weeks old, a woman who lived in the same building took a white One-Z and hand painted a beautiful Hobs on it. He is 13 now and it is framed on his bedroom wall.
Hey KID! Yeah you, get the fuck off my lawn!
xkcd has a lot of great moments but this week is not one of them:
xkcd.com/1378/
Even Garfield would be ashamed. (They'd still do it, but they'd know deep down it was bad.)
Erm, "he should have stopped before doing those" because he never did those?
They are completely unauthorized drawings and not done by him.
I miss Brethead as well.
If there was ever a decade that needed Watterson's whim and Brethead's grit, it is this one.
The "Civilized World" jumped the shark ca. 1973.
I don't know if you were intentionally recalling Bill Watterson's comments on this, but as published in The Complete Calvin and Hobbes: The voluntary ending of successful comic strips is something new. More typically, a strip ceases production only when it's such an anachronistic, formulaic, and irrelevant shadow of itself that readers abandon it. Aiming for the widest possible audience, comics have traditionally relied on broad characters, stock situations, and fairly predictable gags and stories. Once established, these strips can run on autopilot for decades, often with nameless assistants doing much of the work. But the most interesting strips have always been those with a genuine sensibilityâ"a quirky, individual take on lifeâ"and this is something that cannot be duplicated or endlessly recycled.
It's the hip thing to lament the Simpsons still being on past its prime. I find it pretty annoying because however the show now compares to its golden years I can't imagine it ever being replaced by something better. I don't find any of MacFarlane's shows to be more enjoyable than the Simpsons at their absolute worst, and some of the Adult Swim stuff barely qualifies as animation. I'd prefer not to see Simpsons cancelled and MacFarlane given another half hour to further explore the themes of misogyny, homophobia, and racism under the disingenuous guise of being anti-PC. If the Simpsons has lost its wit, at least it still has a heart.