Calvin And Hobbes Creator Has Something To Say

Blog, Entertainment — February 5, 2010 at 4:48

Calvin and Hobbes is one of those stalwart newspaper classics, a comic strip that became so much more, and a cultural touchstone that is so much more meaningful than the bumper stick of some cartoon kid pissing on the ground. Calvin and Hobbes ended up pissing a lot of kids off though because their stuffed tigers never came alive and took them on awesome adventures as well as the ability to construct all sorts of time machines, teleporters, and duplicators out of cardboard boxes. Bill Watterson, the famed creator, however never seemed to want to occupy the same spotlight his strip did, and was always rejecting the possibility of licensing it for TV, crappy gift store items, or movies (see Garfield). In that same vein he also rarely gave interviews so it came as a shock that last week he did just that, sitting down with a local paper and chatting about the history of his accomplishment, and plugging the first officially licensed product at all, a US postage stamp. Anyway, time to go explorin’

What are your thoughts about the legacy of your strip?

Well, it’s not a subject that keeps me up at night. Readers will always decide if the work is meaningful and relevant to them, and I can live with whatever conclusion they come to. Again, my part in all this largely ended as the ink dried.

Because your work touched so many people, fans feel a connection to you, like they know you. They want more of your work, more Calvin, another strip, anything. It really is a sort of rock star/fan relationship. Because of your aversion to attention, how do you deal with that even today? And how do you deal with knowing that it’s going to follow you for the rest of your days?

Ah, the life of a newspaper cartoonist — how I miss the groupies, drugs and trashed hotel rooms!

But since my “rock star” days, the public attention has faded a lot. In Pop Culture Time, the 1990s were eons ago. There are occasional flare-ups of weirdness, but mostly I just go about my quiet life and do my best to ignore the rest. I’m proud of the strip, enormously grateful for its success, and truly flattered that people still read it, but I wrote “Calvin and Hobbes” in my 30s, and I’m many miles from there.

An artwork can stay frozen in time, but I stumble through the years like everyone else. I think the deeper fans understand that, and are willing to give me some room to go on with my life.

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

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

How do you want people to remember that 6-year-old and his tiger?

I vote for “Calvin and Hobbes, Eighth Wonder of the World.”

Related Links:
Bill Watterson, creator of beloved ‘Calvin and Hobbes’ comic strip looks back with no regrets

Tags: calvin and hobbes, cartoon, child, comic, comics, Featured, funny, news paper, strip, tiger