Bill Watterson, creator of beloved 'Calvin and Hobbes' comic strip looks back with no regrets

The Plain Dealer ^ | February 01, 2010, 5:45AM | John Campanelli

[Slings and Arrows]

This marks the 15th year since "Calvin and Hobbes" said goodbye to the comics pages. Creator Bill Watterson, who grew up in Chagrin Falls and still makes Greater Cleveland his home, recently answered some questions via e-mail from Plain Dealer reporter John Campanelli. It's believed to be the first interview with the reclusive artist since 1989.

[Stand Watch Listen]

[hobbes1]

Greatest American artist of the 20th Century.

[astyanax]

http://www.angelfire.com/wa/zzaran/calvin.html

[Slings and Arrows]

See post #21.

[a fool in paradise]

There was an exhibit of his comic strips at Ohio State University (I think in 2001). Since the attendence is capped around 250 people and he’d spoken there before, I think it’s possible that he did poke his head above ground there and made a rare public appearance (with interview).

He’s not the only JD Salinger or Greta Garbo of comics. Steve Ditko also has wanted to be left alone, with his work standing on its own (his later decades work being largely self-published Ayn Rand influenced comics).

[Slings and Arrows]

Perfect then, perfect now.

[Charles Henrickson]

My two favorite comic strips of all time:

Calvin and Hobbes
The Far Side

Both brilliant.

[Slings and Arrows]

Agreed. And both artists quit at the top of their game. There’s a lesson there.

[GBA]

Calvin and Hobbes, Bloom County and The Farside were the three best comics ever. They are greatly missed.

[Stand Watch Listen]

[al_c]

Two of my favs from The Far Side ...

[astyanax]

Agreed.
They are the only comics I would consider buying the collections of (and did. Full sets of both.)

[Slings and Arrows]

Gary Larson once commented that he got a lot of fan mail from that second strip...mostly from people named Doug.

[chrisser]

I always liked the one with the kid pushing on the door labelled “pull” outside the “school for the gifted”

[IYAS9YAS]

I read somewhere, likely in one of the Farside compilations I had, that Jane Goodall thought the strip that portrayed her as "that Jane Goodall tramp" was hilarious. Wikipedia touches on it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Far_Side (under the "Criticism" header).

And there is actually a t-shirt from the Jane Goodall Society with the cartoon on it. Far Side Jane Goodall Shirt

"Thagomizer" is now actually used in the lexicon when talking about dinosaurs (with respect to the late Thag Simmons).

[Mr. K]

This was the picture on my desktop and a huge poster on my wall for YEARS!!! I wish and dream for days like this again and I do everything possible to make sure my little children have days like this to remember

nothign to do but enjoy the woods on a nice suny day...

[cld51860]

Calvin totally reminds me of my kid. My Mom used to say Calvin reminded her of me when I was a little kid! LOL

[Charles Martel]

[brytlea]

Oh, I wish it snowed here so I could do that! Apparently I’m a Calvin. That must be why my Dad loved that comic so much.

[SuziQ]

We LOVED “Calvin and Hobbes”, and still have several books of the comic strips.