20 years later
November 5, 2014 6:44 AM Subscribe
The poster of the 42nd Angoulême International Comics Festival has been unveiled and it's a brand new comic strip by Bill Watterson. Watterson won't be coming to France for the festival, but he did a very short interview for 20 Minutes (in French). Previouslies: STRIPPED (February 2014) and Pearls Before Swine (June 2014). According to this pattern, the next confirmed sighting of Bill Watterson('s art) should occur in February or March 2015.
AUTOFAVOURITE ANYTHING BILL WATTERSON
posted by narain at 7:05 AM on November 5, 2014 [5 favorites]
posted by narain at 7:05 AM on November 5, 2014 [5 favorites]
His first narrative comic, as opposed to a single-panel illustration. And it's fantastic.
Watterson's artistry, to me, has always the way that he composes his work narratively. Both his writing and artwork are super-functional: he knows what purpose every line, of dialogue and illustration alike, serves within the greater outline of his comic. And within framework, he lets himself go absolutely wild, so that visuals and dialogue both explode outward, and land in entirely zany places — but always, always to serve his joke or his storyline.
He cites Krazy Kat as his single greatest inspiration, greater even than Peanuts or Pogo, and I can see why. From Peanuts he derived his insanely efficient economy; from Pogo he learned a lot about characterization and voice, but from Krazy Kat he acquired a real poetic bend to his writing. Start-to-end cohesion matters, because within a temporal space it provides you a meaningful frame in which to operate, but within that frame is where the real magic happens, and when you know the boundaries of your work you can really do some crazy things. Every illustration in Calvin and Hobbes is tight in the way I usually only associate with poetry; you get a real profound sense of composition when you read through even the sillier, gaggier strips. For me, that's what makes C+H timeless, in a way that most other comics just aren't. (Only Bloom County comes close for me, and maybe some of Alan Moore's work, though I find that with the vast expanse of the comics page some amount of economy is oftentimes lost. Happened to Achewood when it got longer-form as well.)
I've loved seeing Bill's illustrations pop up here and there, but this is an actual story, and it pops just as brilliantly as C+H does. Every drawing conveys so goddamn much. That second-to-last panel... holy shit. This is the artist that I fell in love with when I was six, and fancied myself a Calvin.
posted by rorgy at 7:21 AM on November 5, 2014 [14 favorites]
Watterson's artistry, to me, has always the way that he composes his work narratively. Both his writing and artwork are super-functional: he knows what purpose every line, of dialogue and illustration alike, serves within the greater outline of his comic. And within framework, he lets himself go absolutely wild, so that visuals and dialogue both explode outward, and land in entirely zany places — but always, always to serve his joke or his storyline.
He cites Krazy Kat as his single greatest inspiration, greater even than Peanuts or Pogo, and I can see why. From Peanuts he derived his insanely efficient economy; from Pogo he learned a lot about characterization and voice, but from Krazy Kat he acquired a real poetic bend to his writing. Start-to-end cohesion matters, because within a temporal space it provides you a meaningful frame in which to operate, but within that frame is where the real magic happens, and when you know the boundaries of your work you can really do some crazy things. Every illustration in Calvin and Hobbes is tight in the way I usually only associate with poetry; you get a real profound sense of composition when you read through even the sillier, gaggier strips. For me, that's what makes C+H timeless, in a way that most other comics just aren't. (Only Bloom County comes close for me, and maybe some of Alan Moore's work, though I find that with the vast expanse of the comics page some amount of economy is oftentimes lost. Happened to Achewood when it got longer-form as well.)
I've loved seeing Bill's illustrations pop up here and there, but this is an actual story, and it pops just as brilliantly as C+H does. Every drawing conveys so goddamn much. That second-to-last panel... holy shit. This is the artist that I fell in love with when I was six, and fancied myself a Calvin.
posted by rorgy at 7:21 AM on November 5, 2014 [14 favorites]
Also, as I wrote that, I realized how much DNA It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, which has become my favorite sitcom by a mile and a half, shares with Calvin and Hobbes. Both have the same delusions of grandeur, the same love of absurd but meticulously-plotted language, the intensity of emotions, and especially — especially — the abrupt and out-of-nowhere visual punchline. I'm imagining Charlie Kelly as a sadder, more grotesque, more adult version of Calvin and it works surprisingly well. Though really all five of the show's protagonists would appear to share a lot of Calvin's most noticeable traits.
posted by rorgy at 7:24 AM on November 5, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by rorgy at 7:24 AM on November 5, 2014 [1 favorite]
Also, as I wrote that, I realized how much DNA It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, which has become my favorite sitcom by a mile and a half, shares with Calvin and Hobbes.
Does it? It's basically Seinfeld turned up to 11, a show about nothing featuring bad people except in It's Always Sunny they're really bad people instead of petty jerks. The characters even largely map to Seinfeld.
posted by Sangermaine at 7:30 AM on November 5, 2014 [1 favorite]
Does it? It's basically Seinfeld turned up to 11, a show about nothing featuring bad people except in It's Always Sunny they're really bad people instead of petty jerks. The characters even largely map to Seinfeld.
posted by Sangermaine at 7:30 AM on November 5, 2014 [1 favorite]
C'mon, this week the Paddy's gang probably sets a homeless guy on fire, can't you see how that's the very essence of Wattersonian wit and charm?
Anyway, his release of new material reminds me a bit of this excerpt, which has stayed with me almost 20 years now. It requires a bit of setting up, though: in 1996, J.D. Salinger agreed to let a small publisher reprint his 1965 short story "Hapworth 16, 1924." Ron Rosenbaum, writing for Esquire the next year, discussed Salinger's alleged ties to homeopathy and how that could relate to his unprecedented release of "new" material:
posted by Ian A.T. at 7:35 AM on November 5, 2014 [3 favorites]
Anyway, his release of new material reminds me a bit of this excerpt, which has stayed with me almost 20 years now. It requires a bit of setting up, though: in 1996, J.D. Salinger agreed to let a small publisher reprint his 1965 short story "Hapworth 16, 1924." Ron Rosenbaum, writing for Esquire the next year, discussed Salinger's alleged ties to homeopathy and how that could relate to his unprecedented release of "new" material:
I had an uncanny feeling that in reading the homeopathic literature, I was glimpsing at one remove the way Salinger diagnoses his own persona. And perhaps a clue to his decision to release the "Hapworth" story. A medicine for melancholy from Dr. Salinger, a tiny but highly potentized dose of his presence injected afresh into the bloodstream of the culture, an infinitesimal opening in the Wall around himself, in the hope of evoking, in homeopathic fashion, a Presence, a memory of an Absence—[homeopathy] for the soul, ours and his.Wikipedia: "Shortly before the books were to be shipped, Salinger changed his mind, and in accordance with his wishes, [the publisher] withdrew the work. Although new publication dates were repeatedly announced, the book never appeared."
posted by Ian A.T. at 7:35 AM on November 5, 2014 [3 favorites]
I could tell the entire life story of that old lady in the 3rd-to-last panel.
That's how good Watterson is.
posted by droplet at 7:42 AM on November 5, 2014 [1 favorite]
That's how good Watterson is.
posted by droplet at 7:42 AM on November 5, 2014 [1 favorite]
Adult Calvin without the superego of Hobbes IS a good description of the modern American sitcom character.
posted by lefty lucky cat at 7:46 AM on November 5, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by lefty lucky cat at 7:46 AM on November 5, 2014 [2 favorites]
...shh...he's remembering how much fun this medium can be for him...don't jinx it...shh...
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 7:51 AM on November 5, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 7:51 AM on November 5, 2014 [1 favorite]
Look at the mug on that cop! Hahaha!
posted by ReeMonster at 8:14 AM on November 5, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by ReeMonster at 8:14 AM on November 5, 2014 [2 favorites]
I remember when Watterson finished Calvin and Hobbes, and called it quits from comics. I was just finishing my final year of my undergraduate, and had followed C&H religiously for the length of time it ran in the papers. It was like quitting cold turkey, but I understood and respected the man's choice to move ahead with other pursuits in his life.
All these years later, I am delighted that he's beginning to dip his toes in again. Like rorgy mentions above, he is one of the greats of modern comics, and there is an enormous amount young comics writers could learn from him.
posted by LN at 8:21 AM on November 5, 2014
All these years later, I am delighted that he's beginning to dip his toes in again. Like rorgy mentions above, he is one of the greats of modern comics, and there is an enormous amount young comics writers could learn from him.
posted by LN at 8:21 AM on November 5, 2014
I could tell the entire life story of that old lady in the 3rd-to-last panel.
I thought that was supposed to be Miss Wormwood?
posted by poffin boffin at 9:28 AM on November 5, 2014
I thought that was supposed to be Miss Wormwood?
posted by poffin boffin at 9:28 AM on November 5, 2014
He's still at the top of his game.
Not surprising, though: He's been practicing.
posted by entropicamericana at 1:23 PM on November 5, 2014
Not surprising, though: He's been practicing.
posted by entropicamericana at 1:23 PM on November 5, 2014
poffin boffin, it totally could be that Miss Wormwood let herself go (and started wearing dresses with squares instead of polka dots!). I was thinking this was a different old lady because for some reason this feels like it isn't the same universe.
posted by droplet at 6:15 PM on November 5, 2014
posted by droplet at 6:15 PM on November 5, 2014
I wouldn't trust Google Translate for something of this importance, so here's a translation of the interview:
What do you think about winning the Grand Prize of the Angouleme festival?
To be honest, the world of festivals and their rewards is very far away from my everyday life. But I'm always flattered to learn that people still appreciate my work!
You will preside over the next festival [i.e., as a perk of being the prizewinner]. Will you go to France for that?
No. My participation will be limited to producing the official poster-- which is done-- and to sending some of my strips which will be seen at an exposition of my work.
You haven't drawn for a long time. Why did you accept the task of making the official poster?
I thought it would be an interesting challenge... and it was!
What did you want to express in this poster?
First I wanted to evoke my own work; I therefore drew a strip on reading comics as they're found in the Sunday papers in the US. Then I found it amusing to present in the form of the front page of a newspaper, as if it were one of those strips. To make it more universal, I avoided all dialog, any sort of linguistic barrier. To tell a story entirely in pictures is one of the great strengths-- and one of the great pleasures-- of comics. In that sense, I hope I've been able to express both my own work, and comics in general. And to recognize something of what makes this medium so pleasant to read.
You're famous for Calvin and Hobbes... why don't they appear on the poster?
I've never used my characters to promote anything except my own work; and in this situation, it was a matter of promoting all of comics.
posted by zompist at 7:06 PM on November 5, 2014 [3 favorites]
What do you think about winning the Grand Prize of the Angouleme festival?
To be honest, the world of festivals and their rewards is very far away from my everyday life. But I'm always flattered to learn that people still appreciate my work!
You will preside over the next festival [i.e., as a perk of being the prizewinner]. Will you go to France for that?
No. My participation will be limited to producing the official poster-- which is done-- and to sending some of my strips which will be seen at an exposition of my work.
You haven't drawn for a long time. Why did you accept the task of making the official poster?
I thought it would be an interesting challenge... and it was!
What did you want to express in this poster?
First I wanted to evoke my own work; I therefore drew a strip on reading comics as they're found in the Sunday papers in the US. Then I found it amusing to present in the form of the front page of a newspaper, as if it were one of those strips. To make it more universal, I avoided all dialog, any sort of linguistic barrier. To tell a story entirely in pictures is one of the great strengths-- and one of the great pleasures-- of comics. In that sense, I hope I've been able to express both my own work, and comics in general. And to recognize something of what makes this medium so pleasant to read.
You're famous for Calvin and Hobbes... why don't they appear on the poster?
I've never used my characters to promote anything except my own work; and in this situation, it was a matter of promoting all of comics.
posted by zompist at 7:06 PM on November 5, 2014 [3 favorites]
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