With humor, intelligence and psychological acuity, Watterson blended exuberant fantasy into sedate suburban reality he had the observational skills and precision of a superb short-story writer. And we know better.Ĭalvin and Hobbes was a great comic strip not because it was so well loved but because it extended the language of the medium. By those criteria, Calvin and Hobbes was a phenomenon, but the puerile Garfield, which is in 2,600 newspapers, ranks higher in popularity, Garfield is Peanuts' equal. Profitability and popularity are the yardsticks by which we usually measure pop art. The collection reminds us, in case we've forgotten, just how good Calvin and Hobbes was. The books contain all 3,160 Calvin and Hobbes strips, some new Watterson drawings and an introduction by the author in which he talks guardedly about what he's been doing for the last decade. "If it happens, we'd be delighted," Salem said, adding: "I'd be surprised if it does happen."įor now, the syndicate - and Watterson's fans - have to make do with The Complete Calvin and Hobbes.Īndrews McMeel, Watterson's publisher, has released an impressive, hardbound three-volume set which, at 23 pounds and costing $150, is the heaviest and most expensive book ever to make the New York Times bestseller list. Lee Salem, Watterson's editor at Universal Syndicate, which distributed Calvin and Hobbes, said they've had discussions "throughout the years" about a possible return to cartooning in some form. He also was tired of constant deadline pressure. He was artistically frustrated, partly because of the limitations imposed on comic strips by newspaper publication but also because he felt he'd said all he had to say with these characters. Like Greta Garbo, Watterson vanted to be let alone. Watterson later had a lawyer contact the photographer in an unsuccessful attempt to buy the negative. The last known photograph that shows his full face is the one accompanying this story, and it's 19 years old. It's hard to spot him, because few people know what he looks like. While still drawing the strip, Watterson took up painting and moved to the New Mexican desert, though he reportedly returned to his native Ohio in 1995. The house he grew up in, and where his parents still live, is generally as close as they get. Salinger.Įvery once in a while, a reporter travels to Watterson's hometown of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, to try to find him.
And Watterson, who'd already kept a low profile, vanished. Watterson was hailed as a cartoonist for the ages.īut in 1995, after years of fighting with his syndicate over merchandising and with newspapers over running comic strips too small, Watterson said he'd had enough.
His 17 books sold more than 30 million copies. Calvin and Hobbes, the comic strip he created in 1985 about a mischievous 6-year-old boy and his toy tiger, appeared in 2,500 newspapers worldwide.
That's what Bill Watterson did a decade ago.
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