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| Bill Watterson. © Bill Watterson and Andrews McMeel Publishing |
Bill Watterson's wildly successful Calvin and Hobbes work ran from 1985 to 1995. Since then, it remains incredibly popular and relevant. Naturally, fans of his work want to know a little more about him. In today's hyper-connected world where we follow celebrities and friends alike on any number of social media channels, we are still left in the relative dark when it comes to Bill Watterson.
Bill Watterson is notoriously difficult to contact and after the first year of his popularity stopped giving interviews except on the rarest of occasions. In order to present a view of Watterson to shed some light on his approach to Calvin and Hobbes and to provide some insight into the artist, I've culled some quotations from the introductions to his books, and after this exercise I have to agree with Watterson that he's given us all the answers that we need. He describes with candor his experiences as a syndicated cartoonist, his approach to the work, his feelings about the work (then and now) and what the work means to him. He also tells us that he's done what he needed to do and why he walked away when he did. Here are his words:
On Imagination:
" ... I learned a lot about what I love--imagination, deep friendship, animals, family, the natural world, ideas, ideals . . . and silliness. These things make my life meaningful ..." (The Complete Calvin and Hobbes Book 1, 18)
"My strip is about private realities, the magic of imagination, and the specialness of certain friendships." (Tenth 11)
"Hobbes is more about the subjective nature of reality than about dolls coming to life." (Tenth 22)
"Calvin and Hobbes need to be in their own world." (Tenth 31)
"Calvin's transmogrifier sums up the spirit of the strip. A cardboard box becomes a series of great inventions with a little imagination." (Tenth 54)
"People have asked how to play Calvinball. It's pretty simple: you make the rules up as you go." (Tenth 129)
Referring to childhood schemes: "Our great plans often had this kind of boring anticlimax, which is why fiction comes in so handy." (Tenth 136)
Calvin addressing the television: "Oh greatest of the mass media. Thank you for elevating emotion, reducing thought, and stifling imagination." (Tenth 164)
"Imagination is not always appreciated." (Tenth 195)
On Comics:
"In a newspaper full of surprising horrors, it's a comforting little ritual to see our favorite characters each morning for a few seconds over coffee. They become friends of sorts." (Tenth 7)"Sixty years ago, the best strips weren't just amusingly drawn, they were beautiful to look at. I can't think of a single strip today that comes close to that standard of craftsmanship." (Tenth 9)
"I don't think of comics as just entertainment. It's a rare privilege to be able to talk to millions of people on a given day, so I'm eager to say something meaningful when I can." (Tenth 207)
"I think the best comics (like the best novels, paintings, etc. are personal, idiosyncratic works that reflect a unique and honest sensibility." (Tenth 207)
"The best comics expose human nature and help us laugh at our own stupidity and hypocrisy. They indulge in exaggeration and absurdity, helping us to see the world with fresh eyes and reminding us how important it is to play and be silly." (Tenth 207)
"I love the solitude of this work and the opportunity to work with ideas that interest me. That is the greatest reward fo cartooning for me." (Tenth 208)
"I would suggest that it's not the medium, but the quality of perception and expression, that determines the significance of art. But what would a cartoonist know?" (Tenth 202)
"Comic strip shave historically been full of ugly stereotypes, the hallmark of writers to lazy to honestly observe the world. Offended parties often suggest the further sanitization of the comics, but one of the great strengths of cartooning is its ability to criticize through distortion. The trick is to remember that the way we describe things reveals the way we think. The cartoonist who resorts to stereotypes reveals his own bigotry." (Tenth 204)
On Inspiration:
"I collected the Peanuts books all through childhood, and it's probably impossible to overstate the influence Peanuts had on me. ... In my early teens, I discovered Walt Kelly's Pogo, which became a huge influence." (The Complete Calvin and Hobbes Book 1, 6)" ... to the extent that the strip reflects my interests, values, and thoughts, my cartoons are a sort of self portrait." (Tenth 207)
"The trick to writing a comic strip is to cultivate a mental playfulness--a natural curiosity and eagerness to learn." (Tenth 207)
"Like Calvin, I just head out into the yard in search of weirdness, and with the right attitude, I make discoveries." (Tenth 207)
"Putting myself in the head of a fictitious six-year-old and a tiger encourages me to be more inquisitive than I would otherwise be." (Tenth 208)
"In Calvin and Hobbes, I used my childhood--sometimes straight out of the can, sometimes wildly fictionalized, and sometimes as a metaphor for my twenties and thirties--to talk about life and the issues that interested me." (The Complete Calvin and Hobbes Book 1, 18)
On starting out:
"It is difficult to get into newspapers, and few strips survive even then. ... The competition far exceeds the available spaces, and the results are Darwinian." (Tenth 6)On the early years:
"The first couple of years were exploratory efforts to create an engaging world and rounded characters." (Tenth 207)
On licensing and fighting for his rights:
"... only the original creator is capable of producing the strip's unique vision." (Tenth 7)"... Licensing usually cheapens the original creation. ... The public inevitably grows bored and irritated with them, and the appeal and value of the original work are diminished." (Tenth 10)
"My strip is a low-tech, one-man operation, and I like it that way. I believe it's the only way to preserve the craft and to keep the strip personal. ... Beyond all this, however lies a deeper issue: the corruption of a strip's integrity." ... When the cartoonist is trying to talk honestly and seriously about life, then I believe he has a responsibility to think beyond satisfying the market's every whim and desire." (Tenth 11)
"Only thieves and vandals have made money on Calvin and Hobbes merchandise." (Tenth 12)
On the structure of panels and the massive shift of Sunday pages:
"For all the yelling and screaming by outraged editors, I remain convinced that the larger Sunday strip gave newspapers a better product and made the comics section more fun for readers." (Calvin and Hobbes Sunday Pages 1985-1995 15)
"... my enthusiasm has drifted to the visual possibilities of the larger Sunday strip." (Tenth 207)
" With the larger Sunday strip, I find I can often tell a story with greater nuance by eliminating the dialogue altogether." (Tenth 197)
"I had become enthralled with George Herriman's Krazy Kat full-page Sunday strips of the '20s and 30s, and I proposed changing my Sunday strip format so that I could design my panels with a similar freedom." (The Complete Calvin and Hobbes Book 1, 15)
"... my enthusiasm has drifted to the visual possibilities of the larger Sunday strip." (Tenth 207)
" With the larger Sunday strip, I find I can often tell a story with greater nuance by eliminating the dialogue altogether." (Tenth 197)
"I had become enthralled with George Herriman's Krazy Kat full-page Sunday strips of the '20s and 30s, and I proposed changing my Sunday strip format so that I could design my panels with a similar freedom." (The Complete Calvin and Hobbes Book 1, 15)
On the characters:
"From the beginning, Calvin and Hobbes was more about characters than jokes ... " (Calvin and Hobbes Sunday Pages 1985-1995 23)"The truth of the matter is that my characters write their own material. I put them in situations and listen to them." (Tenth 20)
"Calvin is named for a sixteenth-Century theologian who believed in predestination. ... One of the reasons Calvin is fun to write is that I often don't agree with him." (Tenth 21)
Hobbes is "named after a seventeenth-century philosopher with a dim view of human nature, [he] has the patient dignity and common sense of most animals I've met. ... His reserve and tact seem very catlike to me, along with his barely contained pride in not being human." (Tenth 21)
"An animal perspective sheds some light on religious questions." (Tenth 161)
"Susie is earnest, serious, and smart--the kind of girl I was attracted to in school and eventually married." (Tenth 24)
"Moe is every jerk I've ever known. He's big, dumb, ugly, and cruel. I remember school being full of idiots like Moe. I think they spawn on damp locker room floors." (Tenth 26)
On the ending:
"The voluntary ending of successful comic strips is something new." (The Complete Calvin and Hobbes Book 1, 16)"Professionally, I had accomplished far more than I'd ever set out to do and there were no more mountains I wanted to climb." (Calvin and Hobbes Sunday Pages 1985-1995 17)
"As flattering as it is to have a lavish book like this, it can be a little disturbing to see one's own career embalmed in a box." (The Complete Calvin and Hobbes Book 1, 5)
"I truly loved drawing this comic strip, and I'll always look back on Calvin and Hobbes with great pride and affection." (The Complete Calvin and Hobbes Book 1, 18)
"I'd like to think that, now that I'm not recording everything they do, Calvin and Hobbes are out there having an even better time." (The Complete Calvin and Hobbes Book 1, 15)
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| © Bill Watterson (Calvin and Hobbes Sunday Pages 1985-1995, 93) |