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"Calvin and Hobbes" creator Bill Watterson returned to the comics page

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Turtletrekker

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...to co-write/draw three strips of Pearls Before Swine with PBS creator Stephan Pastis.

I've actually been meaning to post this for a couple of days,

http://stephanpastis.wordpress.com/...d-return-to-the-comics-page-well-he-just-did/


As a big fan of both C&H and PBS, I will admit that I noticed the similarities to Watterson's style in the strip last week, but thought Pastis was simply homaging the reclusive Watterson, not working with him.
 
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Re: "Calvin and Hobbes" creator Bill Watterson returned to the comics

Yea I saw that yesterday and was totally stoked :). Talk about pulling off one heck of a coup!
 
Re: "Calvin and Hobbes" creator Bill Watterson returned to the comics

PBS is the best strip out there right now. Hopefully, the publicity gleaned from this will help it reach a wider audience
 
Re: "Calvin and Hobbes" creator Bill Watterson returned to the comics

Wow, I had no idea those were done by Bill Watterson. That's fantastic. I'm a huge fan of both Calvin & Hobbes and Pearls Before Swine.

I love that article, too. Despite the impression one might get from the cynical Pearls, Stephen Pastis is a really nice guy. We traded a few emails several years ago when he let me use Rat in Trunkards.

It's such a shame that a gigantic talent like Bill Watterson is retired. Maybe this is a sign that he's interested in doing more comics. Maybe a book now and then.

I guess we know it won't be a web comic, though. :rommie:
 
Re: "Calvin and Hobbes" creator Bill Watterson returned to the comics

I saw Stephen's blog post shortly after he posted it and I found myself grinning like a fool for the whole weekend. I genuinely had no idea it was Bill Watterson, although I should've noticed with the second entry with Rat's leaping turnaround. Classic Calvin.

This moment reminds me that I really need to watch Dear Mr. Watterson when I get the chance.
 
Re: "Calvin and Hobbes" creator Bill Watterson returned to the comics

Very cute, but also a bit annoying when one thinks of all the awesome stuff he could produce if he only felt so inclined. I respect his choice of whether to share his work with the public or not, but I like to think that if I could delight millions of people worldwide by sharing even a bit more than a half-dozen drawings over the course of twenty years, I would.
 
Re: "Calvin and Hobbes" creator Bill Watterson returned to the comics

Emh said:
I genuinely had no idea it was Bill Watterson, although I should've noticed with the second entry with Rat's leaping turnaround. Classic Calvin.
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That was the panel that first made me think that Pastis was homaging Watterson. As if to say, "See, I really can draw".:lol: That whole panel was pure Calvin. Especially the alien invaders.:lol:
This moment reminds me that I really need to watch Dear Mr. Watterson when I get the chance.
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Agreed.
 
Re: "Calvin and Hobbes" creator Bill Watterson returned to the comics

I like the strip that got his attention. :rommie:

Just added Dear Mr. Watterson to my Netflix list. Reviews at the IMDb aren't good but I'm still curious.

Gaith said:
Very cute, but also a bit annoying when one thinks of all the awesome stuff he could produce if he only felt so inclined. I respect his choice of whether to share his work with the public or not, but I like to think that if I could delight millions of people worldwide by sharing even a bit more than a half-dozen drawings over the course of twenty years, I would.
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Watterson said this specifically about Calvin and Hobbes but it could apply in general...

"This isn't as hard to understand as people try to make it. By the end of ten years, I'd said pretty much everything I had come there to say. It's always better to leave the party early. If I had rolled along with the strip's popularity and repeated myself for another five, ten, or twenty years, the people now "grieving" for Calvin and Hobbes would be wishing me dead and cursing newspapers for running tedious, ancient strips like mine instead of acquiring fresher, livelier talent. And I'd be agreeing with them. I think some of the reason Calvin and Hobbes still finds an audience today is because I chose not to run the wheels off it. I've never regretted stopping when I did." - Source
 
Re: "Calvin and Hobbes" creator Bill Watterson returned to the comics

Agent Richard07 said:
Watterson said this specifically about Calvin and Hobbes but it could apply in general...

"This isn't as hard to understand as people try to make it. By the end of ten years, I'd said pretty much everything I had come there to say. It's always better to leave the party early. If I had rolled along with the strip's popularity and repeated myself for another five, ten, or twenty years, the people now "grieving" for Calvin and Hobbes would be wishing me dead and cursing newspapers for running tedious, ancient strips like mine instead of acquiring fresher, livelier talent. And I'd be agreeing with them. I think some of the reason Calvin and Hobbes still finds an audience today is because I chose not to run the wheels off it. I've never regretted stopping when I did." - Source
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Oh, I 100% applaud his decision to close up C&H when he did. I'd just love to see more original content from him of another work entirely, is all. But of course it's his choice, and I respect that, too.
 
Re: "Calvin and Hobbes" creator Bill Watterson returned to the comics

^^ The darker and grittier Bill Watterson. :rommie:

I can imagine what Spaceman Spiff has become in that universe. He probably moderates at TrekBBS or something. :cardie:
 
Re: "Calvin and Hobbes" creator Bill Watterson returned to the comics

Agent Richard07 said:
I like the strip that got his attention. :rommie:

Just added Dear Mr. Watterson to my Netflix list. Reviews at the IMDb aren't good but I'm still curious.
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It's not a terrible film but it isn't particularly great, either. It doesn't offer any insight or real history of the strip, but rather is just a bunch of talking heads discussing how much the strip meant to them and why they loved it so much ... which isn't of any real particular interest to me, because I know why I loved Calvin & Hobbes, I don't give a shit why Seth Green fell in love with it.
 
Re: "Calvin and Hobbes" creator Bill Watterson returned to the comics

Gaith said:
Agent Richard07 said:
Watterson said this specifically about Calvin and Hobbes but it could apply in general...

"This isn't as hard to understand as people try to make it. By the end of ten years, I'd said pretty much everything I had come there to say. It's always better to leave the party early. If I had rolled along with the strip's popularity and repeated myself for another five, ten, or twenty years, the people now "grieving" for Calvin and Hobbes would be wishing me dead and cursing newspapers for running tedious, ancient strips like mine instead of acquiring fresher, livelier talent. And I'd be agreeing with them. I think some of the reason Calvin and Hobbes still finds an audience today is because I chose not to run the wheels off it. I've never regretted stopping when I did." - Source
Click to expand...
Oh, I 100% applaud his decision to close up C&H when he did. I'd just love to see more original content from him of another work entirely, is all.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I'm not saying he has to get back to the grind of daily newspaper strips but I find it hard to believe that he's done so very little that's worthy of public consumption in the last 20 years.

Right from the outset, I thought I'd noticed a certain Watterson-esque flair to the art in those first couple strips. (The 3rd one actually has more of an Archie flavor than anything else.) But I assumed that Pastis drew them himself or else collaborated with someone else aping Watterson's style. IIRC, Pastis already experimented a little bit with incorporating C&H characters into PBS a while back showing where they ended up 20 years later. (Moe the bully became a door-to-door evangelist. I don't recall the rest of it.) I never would have believed that Watterson would have come done them himself.
 
Re: "Calvin and Hobbes" creator Bill Watterson returned to the comics

The Borgified Corpse said:
Gaith said:
Agent Richard07 said:
Watterson said this specifically about Calvin and Hobbes but it could apply in general...

"This isn't as hard to understand as people try to make it. By the end of ten years, I'd said pretty much everything I had come there to say. It's always better to leave the party early. If I had rolled along with the strip's popularity and repeated myself for another five, ten, or twenty years, the people now "grieving" for Calvin and Hobbes would be wishing me dead and cursing newspapers for running tedious, ancient strips like mine instead of acquiring fresher, livelier talent. And I'd be agreeing with them. I think some of the reason Calvin and Hobbes still finds an audience today is because I chose not to run the wheels off it. I've never regretted stopping when I did." - Source
Click to expand...
Oh, I 100% applaud his decision to close up C&H when he did. I'd just love to see more original content from him of another work entirely, is all.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I'm not saying he has to get back to the grind of daily newspaper strips but I find it hard to believe that he's done so very little that's worthy of public consumption in the last 20 years
Click to expand...
You're making the mistaken assumption that Watterson wants to publish. He's always has been a very private individual and protective of his artwork. Besides, he's been more focused on painting than drawing since his retirement.
 
Re: "Calvin and Hobbes" creator Bill Watterson returned to the comics

Yeah, Watterson's his own man, no doubt about it, and I think that's great. But I'm still hoping this signals a desire on his part to put his work out there again in some form.
 
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