Bill Watterson Bill Watterson
The Creator of Calvin & Hobbes....
Although the main purpose of Calvin and Hobbes is to make the reader laugh, we often get a chance to see the thoughts of Watterson through the comic. It seems to me that in the first years of Calvin and Hobbes, the comic was written for the sole purpose of humor. Since then it has undergone some development to ultimately become one of the best strips of all time. In the latter years, when the comic was more established, Watterson began to include a bonus: Very thoughtful insights into human nature and various expressions of the individual. The "funny" parts of the comic was never dulled by these thoughtful tidbits. Instead Watterson used his points take the comic to new limits that other comic strips rarely reach. Watterson is a master of creating irony while still maintaining the whimsical value of the characters. It is this blend of humor that makes Calvin and Hobbes such a great comic. Bill lets a lot of his personality be reflected through Calvin and Hobbes. I think that I have learned a little about Watterson through his comics, since he said that he expresses many of his views through this medium. So what I say in this paragraph is made by my own interpretation, although I feel I have stayed accurate. I have seen that Bill has a great appreciation for nature and the environment. He cares for animals as we have seen in the "raccoon" strip and in some of Hobbes' comments. He loves cats, and owned a cat named Sprite at one time. He states that his cat Sprite has had a large influence on the look and feel of Hobbes. I especially enjoy Bill's poetry he has included in some of the book collections. Watterson is obviously very intelligent, and he has a passionate view against the destruction of nature. Many of his strips have a "getting back to nature" theme that are funny and thoughtful at the same time. Watterson uses Hobbes to talk about the atrocities we have committed in our environment. In general, Bill seems like a fairly calm individual that enjoys getting out in nature. But again, this is my own interpretation, and you are entitled to your own as well. Another notable aspect of Bill Watterson is the fact that he is not a sell out. Perhaps one of the reasons for his retirement in 1995 was due to the great amounts of stress concerning his ongoing battles with licensing. Basically Watterson feels that licensing a comic waters it down. When the characters in Calvin and Hobbes are shown out of the medium in which they were designed to be involved in, the comic as a whole is demeaned. Bill feels that Calvin and Hobbes should be seen only in the comic strip, and nowhere else. For example, if we began to see Calvin and Hobbes on coffee mugs everywhere, it would devalue the comic as a whole. When only cutouts of Calvin appear everywhere, the comic loses some of it's original flavor. Even though he could have made millions, Watterson never agreed to license Calvin and Hobbes. That is why it's so hard to find any shirts or bumper stickers of Calvin and Hobbes. If you do find any Calvin and Hobbes paraphernalia, it is illegal, and I encourage you not to buy it. Watterson is perfectly justified and should be respected for his strong beliefs. What surprised me most about the Calvin and Hobbes comics is that Bill Watterson did not base Calvin on his childhood, or perhaps on children of his own. He had a somewhat calm childhood and he seems to be somewhat the opposite of Calvin. Watterson says he would rather not have a boy like Calvin in his house. He dedicated his tenth anniversary edition to "Melissa", his wife. But you won't hear much else from Bill himself. He is an individual who greatly values his privacy. I have done a fair amount of research on Bill Watterson, and I have some more factual information on him. He was born on July 5, 1958 in Washington, DC. At the age of six he moved to Chagrin Falls, Ohio, with his parents and his younger brother. Like Calvin's dad, Bill's father was a patent attorney. Bill got all of his cartooning experience when he would draw various cartoons for hours as a young child. When Watterson went to college at Kenyon, he worked for six months at The Cincinnati Post as an editorial cartoonist. As a young adult, Bill spent hours drawing cartoons. Believe it or not, he often tried to sell his comic strips, but he failed. He said, "I don't regret the years of effort and disappointment." He finally got success with Calvin and Hobbes in 1985. From there on it was easy sailing; Calvin and Hobbes was a huge success. He won a "Reuben", in 1986 and in 1988. A Reuben is the top award of the National Cartoonists Society (NCS). Here is his biographical account written by himself. You can see Watterson has a great sense of humor.
And just what inspired Bill to create Calvin and Hobbes? Well, his favorite comic strip is Charles Schulz's "Peanuts". He also liked the very old (before my time) strips of "Krazy Kat" and "Pogo." If you wish to find out more about Bill Watterson, buy his tenth anniversary book. It's full of some of his greatest work and writing on a more personal level. Check it out. (taken from The Best of Calvin & Hobbes)
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