Calvin....not urinating on anything, thank God.

January 3, 2001 11:23 PM

Calvin....not urinating on anything, thank God. Universal Press Syndicates' comic's site, which, along with allowing you to sign up for a daily dose of "Calvin and Hobbes" spam, has many of the strips of this and other comics archived. Chuckles abound.
posted by Optamystic (12 comments total)

One thing I regret is not going to a talk that Watterson was giving in the late '80s where I lived. I think this is the speech he gave, although I think the date given is slightly wrong. In any case, I figured that he was just another comic person who does a lot of personal appearances so I skipped it.

Here's an article about what he was up to in 1998. Sound like he was living near Cleveland then. I wonder if he and Harvey Pekar ever happened to meet.
posted by gluechunk at 1:23 AM on January 4, 2001

This particular strip exquisitely describes the relationship I had with my former roommate. He being Calvin and I Hobbes. In the end, after all the bickering about it being a waste of time and all that, I would often succumb to the warm, blue glow.

As for C&H as a comic, I still have a few snipped out of the newspaper and saved in my files. Not because I think they'll be valuable some day, but because their messages were so poignant, much more than the dreck that are in the funnies today. (The one with Calvin saying "They say the satisfaction of teaching makes up for the lousy pay" comes to mind.)
posted by sandor at 8:09 AM on January 4, 2001

What I had hoped was that he might miss the format, and start doing graphic novels. The long sequences at the beginning of things like "The Essential" and "The Indispensable" give a hint of what he could do if he went even longer. But alas, it hasn't happened.
posted by Steven Den Beste at 8:31 AM on January 4, 2001

When I become the Evil Overlord, my jackbooted thugs will smash every car window in the world with that awful "Calvin" peeing graphic.
posted by straight at 8:45 AM on January 4, 2001

I have a hunch that he's continuing to publish art under a different name. (of course, I haven't read any of the articles linked above, so that hunch is more of a left field guess)
posted by jragon at 10:02 AM on January 4, 2001

After reading the article linked to by gluechunk up there, I can say that the town that was asterisk'd out was Chagrin Falls, OH, which is one of the eastern suburbs of Cleveland. Don't all take that to mean that you should all drive up there & pester Watterson to start drawing again, though.. although if you do decide to visit, I highly recommend the Popcorn Shop's homemade ice cream.
posted by zempf at 10:57 AM on January 4, 2001

Oh, but don't go into Fireside Books looking for autographed Calvin and Hobbes books, Watterson doesn't do that anymore. : (
posted by Avogadro at 11:23 AM on January 4, 2001

Hey optamystic, I'm not getting any work done today. Thanks!!! ;)
posted by solistrato at 12:22 PM on January 4, 2001

My pleasure, sol....I was up until 3 in the morning reading the strips. Then I started jonesin' for more info on Watterson (of which there is little, besides the stuff that gluechunk linked to (thanks gluechunk)).

It occurs to me that I love the art of a great many folks who have voluntarily dropped off the face of the earth in their relative primes. (Watterson, Salinger, Pynchon). Perhaps the world would be a better place if more people were aware that there can be a HUGE downside to fame.

In reference to the "Calvin Peeing" stickers. I realize that if you're reading this, it is highly unlikely that you own one. But just in case you do, consider the following:

Watterson NEVER licensed any of the Calvin and Hobbes characters, because he wanted to maintain the integrity of the strip. No t-shirts, no stuffed Calvins, no crappy Saturday morning animated show, nothing. By refusing to do so, he cost himself easily tens, and perhaps even hundreds of millions of dollars, all for the sake of keeping his creation pure. He wanted to ensure that when you saw Calvin, you thought of the sweet, funny, strip that he had drawn, and not some cheap, watered-down variation on it, and CERTAINLY not some crass, frat-boy image of Calvin taking a leak or smoking a joint.

I think we owe it to the man to respect that wish.
posted by Optamystic at 1:17 PM on January 4, 2001

AMEN!
posted by wendell at 3:26 PM on January 4, 2001

You mean that "Friends don't let friends beer goggle" t-shirt I have wasn't licensed? Damn.
posted by jennyb at 3:30 PM on January 4, 2001

The neat thing about those Calvin strips is that they're republishing one a day, ten years to the day after they were first published. Eventually they'll complete it -- they've got five years to go yet. It's the next best thing to new strips, experiencing the old ones after you've mostly forgotten them. (But as an inveterate reader, I haven't forgotten them that much, heh.)
posted by dhartung at 4:29 PM on January 4, 2001