Calvin and Hobbes, Eighth Wonder of the World
February 1, 2010 11:07 AM   Subscribe

Bill Watterson, the reclusive creator of Calvin & Hobbes, gives what is believed to be his first interview since 1989.
posted by Effigy2000 (83 comments total) 41 users marked this as a favorite
 
For a second I feared this was an obit post!!!
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 11:11 AM on February 1, 2010 [1 favorite]


Oh, bless his heart.
posted by cavalier at 11:12 AM on February 1, 2010


Now there's a man with a healthy relationship to his work. I hope he's enjoying himself.
posted by Bromius at 11:12 AM on February 1, 2010 [3 favorites]


God love Bill Watterson: His art, his writing, his battles with the syndicate. I'm glad he's happy and still very wry.
posted by Scoo at 11:12 AM on February 1, 2010


Looks like they ran it for the pageviews because there's no much there.
posted by DU at 11:12 AM on February 1, 2010


Burhanistan: "That's not much of an interview."

Like Calvin & Hobbes, he ended the interview before we got sick of him and it became self indulgent. The man is nothing but consistent.
posted by Effigy2000 at 11:15 AM on February 1, 2010 [33 favorites]


I thought this was probably the meatiest bit (which isn't saying much):

Q: How soon after the U.S. Postal Service issues the Calvin stamp will you send a letter with one on the envelope?

A: Immediately. I'm going to get in my horse and buggy and snail-mail a check for my newspaper subscription.

That can be interpreted in a couple of ways. One is that Watterson is having a joke at his own expense about being old-fashioned. Another is that Watterson views newspapers as on the way out in the same way as buggy ships, snail-mail, and paper checks, which might be one reason he's glad he got out of the comic strip business when he did.
posted by jedicus at 11:19 AM on February 1, 2010 [18 favorites]


argh, buggy whips
posted by jedicus at 11:19 AM on February 1, 2010


This is awesome. Funny and honest, but with a good perspective. I regret the ending of the strip, but I agree with his points. If it had gone on people would bitch about it like they do The Simpsons.
posted by I am the Walrus at 11:19 AM on February 1, 2010 [1 favorite]


DU: "Looks like they ran it for the pageviews because there's no much there."

Burhanistan: "That's not much of an interview."

Jinx.

Also, does this surprise either of you (or anyone else here)? The news business stopped being about "news" a while back.

Still, I was happy to read his responses, reminding me of how awesomely grounded he is. I love imagining what he's doing now (my imagination goes back and forth between a nice, staid family life and time spent mostly in his shed out back working on the Transmogrifier).
posted by yiftach at 11:20 AM on February 1, 2010 [1 favorite]


That was surprisingly satisfying.
posted by Songdog at 11:20 AM on February 1, 2010


It might not be much of an interview, but Watterson doesn't seem to give them much to work with. I'd love to know about what he's doing now and hear some back story on the strip, but I've learned not to expect much new insight from him
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 11:20 AM on February 1, 2010


I always expected the immense commercial success and emotional resonance of Calvin and Hobbes would convince some other comic strip artists to become really good at drawing, but it doesn't seem to have turned out that way.
posted by stammer at 11:20 AM on February 1, 2010 [8 favorites]


The question I most wanted answered: "What in tarnation have you been working on these past 15 years and how are you currently spending your time?"
posted by Ljubljana at 11:22 AM on February 1, 2010 [5 favorites]


Watterson also answered some reader email when the Complete Calvin and Hobbes was released a couple years ago. His responses are similarly unenthusiastic.
posted by eggplantplacebo at 11:23 AM on February 1, 2010 [3 favorites]


The J.D. Salinger of the cartoon world.
posted by GuyZero at 11:23 AM on February 1, 2010 [15 favorites]


If one were to come up with a way of living off royalties, Watterson's would not be a bad way of going about it.
posted by valkyryn at 11:28 AM on February 1, 2010


Newspapers and magazines - not to mention Mr. Nevin Martell - must have tried to get an interview with Mr. Watterson for years and years and years. How come he chose to talk to The Plain Dealer, and how come he chose to do it now? Sure, there's an article next to the interview, but still.
posted by soundofsuburbia at 11:30 AM on February 1, 2010


I've never seen a picture of him before. He looks like Hobbes to me!
posted by small_ruminant at 11:31 AM on February 1, 2010


The interesting counterpoint to Bill Watterson is Gary Trudeau: Doonesbury is arguably better today than it was when it started forty years ago.

Granted, by making his strip topical with the news, Trudeau had something of an easier time with the subject matter--a lot of what he had to do was just have his characters react to what's going on. But he still evolved the characters, leaving old ones behind and introducing new ones, and with updated sensibilities, without losing his basically liberal viewpoint.

Like everyone else, I have a very deep respect for Watterson for bringing an end to a great thing, rather than letting it die a senescent death.
posted by fatbird at 11:31 AM on February 1, 2010 [2 favorites]


I admire the way the man keeps his ego in check. A rare quality in an artist I'm sure. Thanks for posting this Effigy2000
posted by charles kaapjes at 11:32 AM on February 1, 2010


Too much reading for one sitting. Bookmarked.
posted by Usher at 11:35 AM on February 1, 2010 [2 favorites]


I love Watterson and the trajectory of his career is admirable.

Also: He wrote a review of a biography of Charlez Shultz in '07.
posted by griphus at 11:37 AM on February 1, 2010 [3 favorites]


How come he chose to talk to The Plain Dealer, and how come he chose to do it now?

Why the The Plain Dealer? He's from the Cleveland area and still lives there, so The Plain Dealer is probably the newspaper that he sees as "his". Why now? The stamp coming out plus the 15th anniversary of ending C&H seems to have been enough for a short interview.
posted by skynxnex at 11:38 AM on February 1, 2010


tl;dr
posted by briank at 11:39 AM on February 1, 2010 [1 favorite]


I've never seen a picture of him before. He looks like Hobbes to me!

I just came in here to say the same thing. As soon as I saw the pic (which looks dated), I thought, "Hobbes! With a mustache!"
posted by Brodiggitty at 11:40 AM on February 1, 2010


He's an artist in the truest sense of the word. Unlike many others who would have kept the strip going when there was nothing left to say, he left when it was time.

I admit that I did see some slippage in C&H in the last year it was syndicated.
posted by reenum at 11:41 AM on February 1, 2010


Is he writing anything currently or did he just retire completely?
posted by empath at 11:42 AM on February 1, 2010


I am kind of proud of the meta recursive redneck calvin that I made. You may be more likely to appreciate it if you have lived in the rural US. I wonder what Watterson would think of it. I am sure the various stickers of calvin pissing on Ford and Chevy logos etc. don't impress him much, but I don't know if he would think a detournment of that is any better (thanks to these guys for displaying the picture, regardless).
posted by idiopath at 11:42 AM on February 1, 2010 [2 favorites]


Through Watterson's own efforts, he is a non-celebrity, there is no Calvin & Hobbes merchandise, and he stresses that he had no higher message in creating the strip. Therefore, Calvin & Hobbes exists entirely in a vacuum.

How rare is that?
posted by Turkey Glue at 11:48 AM on February 1, 2010 [1 favorite]


He looks a lot like Calvin's father

Oh wow, besides the mustache, the resemblance is uncanny.
posted by Taft at 11:52 AM on February 1, 2010 [4 favorites]


been enough for a short interview

Well, apparently. I'm just wondering if this interview marks the beginning of a more public Bill Watterson. I mean, the Bill Watterson of yesteryears wouldn't acknowledge a 15th anniversary or a stamp. The Plain Dealer has tried to contact him a number of times [According to Wikipedia]. Sure he lives in Cleveland, but that doesn't make him partial to The Plain Dealer, for all we know. (Or, well, it sure seems that he is partial to The Plain Dealer.)

A Bill Watterson interview is a pretty pretty big deal, and I'm sure Mr Watterson didn't just wake up one morning and thought "I guess I'll step into the media spotlight once again" to himself. Granted it's a short interview that barely skims the surface, but still. Will he do other interviews next?
posted by soundofsuburbia at 11:54 AM on February 1, 2010


there is no Calvin & Hobbes authorized merchandise

FTFY.
posted by l33tpolicywonk at 11:55 AM on February 1, 2010


l33tpolicywonk, The sheer amount of things Calvin is peeing on is staggering.
posted by Taft at 11:57 AM on February 1, 2010


I always expected the immense commercial success and emotional resonance of Calvin and Hobbes would convince some other comic strip artists to become really good at drawing, but it doesn't seem to have turned out that way.

Comics are printed so tiny these days that it's almost impossible for artists to do any decent artwork.
posted by octothorpe at 12:00 PM on February 1, 2010 [1 favorite]


15 years?! That means I could barely read when it ended. I guess Calvin and Hobbes was such a huge part of my childhood that I had assumed it was still running as I got old enough to read it. If it had ended by the time I was old enough, that means my parents made a deliberate attempt for me to grow up with Calvin and Hobbes as an essential part of my child. Which, now that I think about it, I should thank them for.
posted by pecknpah at 12:02 PM on February 1, 2010


The sheer amount of things Calvin is peeing on is staggering.

I’ve got a tattoo here that fully illustrates my point. It’s of this rebellious young man, and he’s urinating on an FM radio. And then this other stream of urine is going onto that television set. Implausible, I know, but I like to think that he had sex the night before, and a little bit of residue is blocking his urethra, allowing the urine to flow in two separate directions.
posted by Shepherd at 12:04 PM on February 1, 2010 [4 favorites]


The interesting counterpoint to Bill Watterson is Gary Trudeau: Doonesbury is arguably better today than it was when it started forty years ago.

Granted, by making his strip topical with the news, Trudeau had something of an easier time with the subject matter--a lot of what he had to do was just have his characters react to what's going on. But he still evolved the characters, leaving old ones behind and introducing new ones, and with updated sensibilities, without losing his basically liberal viewpoint.

Like everyone else, I have a very deep respect for Watterson for bringing an end to a great thing, rather than letting it die a senescent death.


I dunno. Trudeau handled the transitions well, but for every Doonesbury, there are a hundred Cathys or Blondies that deal with changing paradigms in cover-your-eyes-awful ways--hamfisted attempts at injecting the zeitgeist in contrived ways that totally break character and setting continuity, and smack of an editor saying "Hey, yeah, this internet is going to be a big deal! See if you can work it into next week's story arc!" While I don't think Watterson would have succumbed to it, the idea of Calvin showing up on on Twitter makes me reflexively shudder.
posted by Mayor West at 12:06 PM on February 1, 2010 [1 favorite]


Heh, someone made a Calvin peeing on a Calvin peeing on anything.
posted by Rhomboid at 12:09 PM on February 1, 2010


Trudeau started out with most of his main characters as adults so he was able to keep the tone of the strip the same as they got older. You couldn't really age Calvin without destroying the whole dynamic of the strip; he's not going to be going to college and still talking to his stuffed tiger. But if he'd kept Cavin the same age, he'd end up re-running jokes and turn into one of those aweful stale strips like Marvin.
posted by octothorpe at 12:27 PM on February 1, 2010


I'm sure Mr Watterson didn't just wake up one morning and thought "I guess I'll step into the media spotlight once again" to himself

I think that's exactly the kind of thing he would do, although I wouldn't call this 'media spotlight' really - a few questions by email, nothing more. Watterson wouldn't want his actions to be interpreted as grand and staggering moments in comicdom, so he probably doesn't think of his few appearances as anything more than what they are.
posted by Think_Long at 12:30 PM on February 1, 2010


15 years?! That means I could barely read when it ended.

Calvin and Hobbes ran during my prime time, I'm grateful to say. I can still remember the first C&H comic that hooked me. It was a Sunday funnies full-page colour one, featuring one of his nature-drawing sets about a little sparrow.

3rd-last frame - sparrow prepares to sing,
2nd-last frame - sparrow sings (bellows) " ON TOP OF SPAGHETTIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!....", the drawing is incredible
last frame - Calvin is being hustled from the dinner table and sent outside

Still breaks me up.

Did you check out his editorial cartoons?
posted by Artful Codger at 12:32 PM on February 1, 2010 [2 favorites]


I just read the book mentioned in the article, the one about the writer trying to get in touch with Watterson. And in the end, I was disappointed that his devotion to his art ended with the creation, and refused to engage with the audience. It struck me as a little selfish.

But maybe that's just me being selfish, because I always have and still do get so much joy form the strip. Hard to say...
posted by wenestvedt at 12:32 PM on February 1, 2010


He looks a lot like Calvin's father

Oh wow, besides the mustache, the resemblance is uncanny.


Add the mustache and voila, you get Calvin's uncle, Max, who appeared in the early days but then was retired because he didn't work out the way Watterson wanted him to.
posted by ekroh at 12:34 PM on February 1, 2010


This is really creepy.

In the last few days, I've been reading Looking for Calvin and Hobbes . And a couple of weeks ago, I contributed to a kickstarter project: Dear Mr. Watterson - a cinematic exploration of Calvin & Hobbes

Either Mr. Watterson realizes he's bubbling up, again, in the subconscious of the populace, or he's stalking me.

I also rewatched Up this weekend. And thought about how much Carl is very much like an old Calvin.
posted by DigDoug at 12:49 PM on February 1, 2010 [1 favorite]


He looks a lot like Calvin's father

Oh wow, besides the mustache, the resemblance is uncanny.


I think you've got it backwards. Calvin's dad looks like Bill. It's intentional.
posted by blue_beetle at 12:49 PM on February 1, 2010


One of the reasons Max was retired was that it was really, really awkward for him to talk to Calvin's parents without ever referring to them by name.
posted by shakespeherian at 12:50 PM on February 1, 2010 [2 favorites]


Here's the reporter's explanation about how he managed the interview. He simply emailed Watterson on a whim, which is really kind of lovely. My guess is, Watterson responded because he thought the questions were respectful and it was actually an appropriate newstory to run - i.e. one about the commemorative stamps, rather than a "why are you such a recluse and why can't i buy a Calvin doll" expose.
posted by susanvance at 12:53 PM on February 1, 2010 [1 favorite]


Bill Watterson is one of the greatest living artists and humorists.
posted by Damn That Television at 12:54 PM on February 1, 2010 [2 favorites]


Also this interview is exactly the right length.
posted by Damn That Television at 12:55 PM on February 1, 2010 [4 favorites]


Did you check out his editorial cartoons?

Those are great, thanks!
posted by pecknpah at 1:02 PM on February 1, 2010


Calvin and Hobbes are the eighth and ninth wonders of the world. FTFY.
posted by Cranberry at 1:06 PM on February 1, 2010


So Miss C&H . . . and Far Side too, while we're at it, but Watterson is right: eventually even the best strips jump the shark. For example, Doonesbury and Peanuts needed to hang it up a long time ago.

My favorite q & a from the email responses eggplantpacebo linked to above:

Q: What attributes do you wish were seen more commonly among children?

A: Good parents!

posted by bearwife at 1:12 PM on February 1, 2010


MetaFilter: on the way out in the same way as buggy ships
posted by Sys Rq at 1:20 PM on February 1, 2010 [2 favorites]


" I could respect a man who had it all, and he'd tossed the ball away" - the Tubes

Rock on Calvin's "dad"
posted by djrock3k at 1:23 PM on February 1, 2010


You couldn't really age Calvin without destroying the whole dynamic of the strip; he's not going to be going to college and still talking to his stuffed tiger.

Yeah, that would be disturbing.
posted by emjaybee at 1:26 PM on February 1, 2010 [1 favorite]


Another is that Watterson views newspapers as on the way out in the same way as buggy ships, snail-mail, and paper checks, which might be one reason he's glad he got out of the comic strip business when he did.

I know this is a favorite dead horse around here, but I think that's a bit of a stretch. It's not like Watterson is off making his strip into a new media empire, with Calvin webcomics and animated webisodes. Watterson's been pretty clear about his reasons and "By the end of 10 years, I'd said pretty much everything I had come there to say" doesn't leave a lot of room for "Yeah, but maybe he really meant ..."
posted by Amanojaku at 1:30 PM on February 1, 2010



posted by JHarris at 1:59 PM on February 1, 2010


A few years ago, in Chicago, I was waited on by a woman with a tattoo version of the dead bird featured in one of the sunday strips. It was a highly realistic drawing, and subsequently an awesome tattoo.

I should have asked her to marry me on the spot.
posted by elwoodwiles at 2:14 PM on February 1, 2010 [3 favorites]


Here's the strip about the sparrow Artful Codger references.
posted by chiababe at 2:22 PM on February 1, 2010 [2 favorites]


bearwife, Peanuts did hang it up a long time ago. Charles Schulz died February 12, 2000; the final Sunday strip ran the next day.

It's been reruns ever since.
posted by sonic meat machine at 2:44 PM on February 1, 2010


I've never seen a picture of him before. He looks like Hobbes to me!

I thought he looked a lot like the dad in the strip. I wish there was something about what he's up to now. Is he a farmer? A painter?
posted by bluefly at 3:08 PM on February 1, 2010


The J.D. Salinger of the cartoon world.
posted by GuyZero at 1:23 PM on February 1


Really, only inasmuch as seeming to prefer being left alone (and even then, dealing with it, you know, sans shotgun). If being a famous cartoonist was anything like being, say, a mediocre pop singer, all the quiet resolve to stay out of the spotlight in the world wouldn't save him, as the paparazzi have demonstrated endlessly. He is a much smaller fish appealing to a much saner crowd: in the end it isn't really so remarkable that he has pulled off his privacy as that he has so consistently and rationally asserted it. He's married, he apparently has a close relationship with his parents, he isn't really a recluse. He just doesn't want a public life and as far as I can see never did, and particularly never wanted to be associated with any kind of cult of personality. As far as all the questions about what he has been doing all this time, the most consistent rumor I've read is that he paints. If true, I imagine he chooses to say nothing about it for the same reasons - so as not to provide any other fodder for people to speculate about (or somehow try to capitalize on).
posted by nanojath at 3:24 PM on February 1, 2010 [2 favorites]


This interview is like meeting the President of the USA, and just asking "Hey, wassup? Remember that stuff? Yeah."

So frustrating.
posted by Theta States at 3:25 PM on February 1, 2010


I always expected the immense commercial success and emotional resonance of Calvin and Hobbes would convince some other comic strip artists to become really good at drawing, but it doesn't seem to have turned out that way.

Not in newspapers, anyway.
posted by Evilspork at 3:26 PM on February 1, 2010


Really, only inasmuch as seeming to prefer being left alone

Well, that and being a genius in what he did release.
posted by GuyZero at 3:28 PM on February 1, 2010


This interview is like meeting the President of the USA, and just asking "Hey, wassup? Remember that stuff? Yeah."

Chris: You.. you.. you remember when you were with The Beatles?

Paul: Yeah, sure.

Chris: That was awesome!

Paul: Yeah, it was.
posted by shakespeherian at 3:30 PM on February 1, 2010 [1 favorite]




Where's the interview with the Jim Davis-bot 9000 that puts out 10,000,000^27 new lasagna-based cartoon strips per day?
posted by basicchannel at 3:56 PM on February 1, 2010


Back around 1986-1988, I was a neighborhood delivery boy for the town newspaper. It wasn’t the greatest gig: seven days a week, 52 weeks a year, rain or snow or sleet be damned is kind of a grind for an eleven year old kid. I was often in the red, since I actually had to buy the newspapers myself and then collect from my customers, many of whom wouldn’t pay for months at a time (I don’t think they realized they were actually stiffing me and not the newspaper, but it was a crappy business model). Even when I did get paid, it was sometimes out of customers’ kitchen change jars. One guy, who lived in an enormous waterfront estate, once paid me two months of back dues with $20 in loose pennies, nickels and dimes.

It wasn’t all bad, though. My bundle was dropped off at the end of my block under a big mulberry tree, and when they were in season the first customer on my route always had deep purple stains all over their comics section. On many days, the promise of a fresh Calvin and Hobbes strip was the only thing that got me out the door to deliver those papers. And even though Sunday editions were so big and heavy that I had to make a second trip to refill my satchel, I’d be out there in the morning, splitting the plastic bundle strap with my trusty Swiss Army knife (paid for with my meager earnings) just to see the big color panels fresh off the presses. This was before he got his half-page deal, but it was still the best part of my week.

I saw the complete collection in a bookstore the other day, and when I flipped one of the volumes open I could almost hear the pop of that plastic strap and taste those overripe mulberries. Thanks, Mr. Watterson.
posted by Mendl at 4:17 PM on February 1, 2010 [10 favorites]


How a Cleveland reporter landed a rare interview with reclusive Bill Watterson

So, basically, the fact of the interview is somewhat more interesting than the substance interview itself, in that they made a story about the guy who actually got the interview.
posted by jabberjaw at 4:18 PM on February 1, 2010 [1 favorite]


Why not ask him what the hell he's doing all day?
posted by zzazazz at 4:32 PM on February 1, 2010


When are we getting the reboot?
posted by juiceCake at 5:18 PM on February 1, 2010


The collected Calvin and Hobbes box set is sitting on my bookshelf, where it's been for about three and a half years now. I haven't read it yet, because I haven't needed to. Some day, I may need to read it, and it will be there for me. It will probably save my life.
posted by Faint of Butt at 5:30 PM on February 1, 2010 [2 favorites]


I'm halfway through the second book of the complete collection, Faint of Butt. Mind you, it's taken me two and a half years to get that far. Part of it is my busy scheule. The other part is to do with the fact I want to savour these strips. Sure, once I finish I can reread them again, but to read them quickly is to not appreciate the brilliance of the strip. A great collection that's well worth getting.

That said, I also have the complete Far Side collection, which is waiting patiently for me to finish Calvin & Hobbes before I start reading it. So if ever there was an incentive fir me to get on my butt and start finishing C&H, that would be it.
posted by Effigy2000 at 5:41 PM on February 1, 2010


I remember my mind being blown by the idea that there were people who would need to rent not only a video but also a VCR to see a movie at home.
posted by concrete at 6:22 PM on February 1, 2010 [1 favorite]


"What in tarnation have you been working on these past 15 years and how are you currently spending your time?"

I read an article once where they said he spends a lot of time painting watercolor landscapes with his dad. I hope that that's true.

When I was in elementary school, I wrote him a fan letter, and he wrote me back. He sent me a print of the "on top of spaghetti" strip. Getting that letter is one of my fondest memories from childhood.

This really made my day.
posted by emilyd22222 at 6:57 PM on February 1, 2010 [1 favorite]


there is no Calvin & Hobbes authorized merchandise

FTFY.


Yeah. No. Authorized.

Peeing Calvins ain't.
posted by SLC Mom at 7:00 PM on February 1, 2010


The interviewer's questions are a perfect example of why most journalism sucks these days.
posted by Sukiari at 10:03 PM on February 1, 2010


Comics are printed so tiny these days that it's almost impossible for artists to do any decent artwork.

Watterson discusses this quite a bit in one of the Calvin & Hobbes collections; I think it's the 10th Anniversary one. A good portion of it is dedicated to the discussion of how newspapers have devoted less and less space to comics, and have been forcing strips into 4 or 8 panel layouts. He had a few Sunday strips that rebelled against this trend as much as possible; lots of small frames, idiosyncratic formatting, etc. He took his illustrations very seriously, and it showed.
posted by craven_morhead at 9:37 AM on February 2, 2010


With J.D. Salinger's death and now this Bill Watterson interview, I'm half expecting Mark Hollis to announce that Talk Talk is getting back together a renunion tour to round out this "Top surprising moments from reclusive artists in 2010" list I'm writing up.
posted by kkokkodalk at 10:22 AM on February 2, 2010


This thread makes me so damned happy. Being a kid in the eighties was awesome. It was a golden ago of comics and cartoons.

If I could only fall into the moebius... where I'm a little boy forever.
posted by PROD_TPSL at 1:17 PM on February 2, 2010


Perhaps Watterson isn't the best interview subject, but I thought the interview barely came in above the "What's your favorite color?" or "What does the name of your cartoon mean?" calibre. I find it amusing that there's another FPP today about Berk Breathead. Now THERE is a character who gives creative, sardonic interview answers and is wonderfully personable to boot (met him once in the 1980s). Equally as reclusive and mysterious, but damn if he isn't clever and truly a funny guy.
posted by kuppajava at 7:13 PM on February 2, 2010


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