http://calvinandhobbesday2day.blogspot.com/2015/04/have-hobby.html
if you didn't know, the boxed set of all the Calvin and Hobbes hardcover books is available for about 60 dollars on Amazon. I got one about 17 years ago, they are terrific if you're a fan, or a great xmas gift if you know a fan
By the way, Bill Watterson, is a TWO TIME Eisner award winner
One of my favorites. I have a couple of his coffee table books....they're still hilarious!
ReplyDeleteRegarding your head line "Feeling old, or just sad?" My general feeling is sadness, but also a bit pissed that Waterson walked away from probably one of the most brilliantly written and illustrated comics I've ever seen. I remember at work those of us reading it would have discussions about Calvin's adventures, or misadventures in the dailies. On e of the many favorites I enjoyed was his private eye shtick. I believe Waterson could have easily got another ten years out of the comic and even a feature animated film or two. Why he doesn't is just plain baffling to me. I didn't know about the hard cove books. I have a couple soft covers though.
ReplyDeleteDid you know that he has a mental glitch? He's now completely isolated. The only contact he has with the outside world is with the publisher, and that's pretty rare as he hasn't published anything in 25 years. It's pretty much a christmas card and royalties check from them to him.
DeleteI feel for the guy... he came along, and SHINED.
Charles Shultz, and all the rest that had been making comic strips daily were blown away, by a guy that came along, and not came up through the ranks, and who then set a new standard... because he added ART with the dinosaurs, and the other planets, and he added ADVENTURE that the others never had imagined that their characters could ever pull off.
By using a little kid, Waterson had the land if imagination, day dreams, imaginary best friends and monsters.
What the hell did Beetle Bailey have? Hi and Lois? Even Non-Sequitor was limited. The closest anyone had was Snoopy's WW2 root beer drinking flying Ace beagle.
And when Waterson turned up the power, and excited us all with the incredible stories and art, he (in my point of view) ran out of energy. He also might have painted himself into a corner, and ran the race fastest, and in the shortest time. It's a fact he only did Calvin and Hobbes for 10 years, the rest is conjecture, but it's possible that he either used up all he had to give us (and he gave us SO MUCH) or he raised the standard, even for himself, to a level of impossible to match incredibleness that he didn't dare to match anymore from fear of letting us, and his characters legacy, down.
If, for only a moment, you can remember the most perfect thing you've ever heard, like a classical piece of music... Beethoven's 9th Symphony, or Shakespeare's poetry, or Lincoln's Gettyburg address, and while that is fresh in your mind, pretend YOU created it.
Now take that level of satisfaction and pride, and accomplishment... and ask yourself, what will you do tomorrow?
If it's not inventing the cure for polio, curing cancer, writing Gone With The Wind, or teaching the blind to see... or something miraculous like that, will your fans understand? Will you feel like you've destroyed your level of achievement?
So, maybe, he found a point where he could stop, and not let us down, not lower the level of fantastic Calvin and Hobbes magic, not drop the ball and show the crazy guy behind the curtain who was pulling the stings and throwing the levers to keep the Great and Powerful OZ performing...
But we know he just stopped on day, and let us go find new adventures.
I think him, and admire him for what he gave us. It's unmatched in all the comic book and cartoon world.
Calvins secret club that hates girls, in a tree house?
The food glop monster that would attack?
The teacher that became an alien prison guard
Mom making zombie food
Dad driving home to find snowmen killing other snowmen in the driveway
New lengths and record jumps in the wagon
Monsters under the bed
A crush on Susie Derkins which was MORE FUN than anything Charlie Brown ever had with the little red head girl.
Jesse, this is by far the longest response, I believe, to anything I have ever replied to on your blog. I am humbled sir. There is a lot to talk about regarding this mysterious illustrator who gave us so much in such a short time, and then "walked away". I was not aware of a mental glitch that Mr. Watterson has, only the fact that he is a recluse. Almost sounds like Howard Hughes. I see he received the Eisner Award in '92, that being the highest honor one can get in the field. Boy, so much to talk about, and so many possibilities. How sad. If what you alluded to is true, then all I can say is, good buy Bill. Thanks for the wonderful joy you gave us with your imagination and illustration.
ReplyDeleteYes, right, good connection to Hughes. Such genius often comes at a mental price, and though Hughes was caused by an STD that started eating away at his brain, there are other cases where a connection can be drawn.
DeleteThe Catcher in the Rye author, secluded away the rest of his life.
Nicola Tesla, Ted Kaczynski, Michelangelo, hmmm, I thought I'd have a lot more examples. Maybe the ratio of crazy to sane is the same with geniuses as it is with the sane.
Anyway the glitch I refer to is the reclusiveness he's been obsessed with. that may be a simple reaction to international fandom he created, after all, no one was beating down the door of Stan Lee, Charles Schultz, or the guy that invented the Walking Dead graphic novel, or the Hellboy comic books.
But Waterson had a lot more fans, from a wider base across all demographics. Not even Gary Larsen topped Waterson. I recommend the Far Side hardcover box set too by the way.
So, maybe his seclusion is just fear of being mobbed by fans, or having his peace and quiet intruded on.
I haven't heard from him what the reason is that he's a hermit, but I've read that he's enjoying the peace and quiet to work on fine art paintings.
Those do require a lot of uninterrupted time to maintain the serene focus on the thing you're studying hard enough to paint so well that people appreciated it.
I think that is why there are so few celebrated fine artists anymore. There used to be a lot more. Matisse, Renoir, Davinci, etc.
Oh, and things I appreciate a lot get a lot more of my time. After all, it's been 13 years on things with wheels, lol. Things I respect get me a lot more eloquent than usual, and I've been told I would have been a good teacher due to my willingness to go to great lengths to share my appreciation of things.
Lol, did you know I have a dozen other blog type websites? They don't get as much time as this one... but that poetry one will, someday. I'll probably stop working on this one and switch to the poetry one