
Dear Mr. Watterson - danso
http://www.dearmrwatterson.com/DMW/dearmrwatterson.html
======
raldi
When Calvin & Hobbes shut down in 1995, Bill Watterson wrote a letter
explaining why:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Watterson#End_of_Calvin_an...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Watterson#End_of_Calvin_and_Hobbes)

His two stated reasons were the pressure of coming up with seven strips a week
and a distaste for the tiny space newspapers gave him to work with:

 _" I believe I've done what I can do within the constraints of daily
deadlines and small panels. I am eager to work at a more thoughtful pace, with
fewer artistic compromises."_

Then, almost immediately after this happened, the web took off and solved both
his problems. For years I waited for his announcement of his webcomic. But it
never happened.

I guess he wasn't so eager after all.

~~~
Tyrannosaurs
The page you link to gives the reason from an interview he did in 2010:

"This isn't as hard to understand as people try to make it. By the end of ten
years, I'd said pretty much everything I had come there to say. It's always
better to leave the party early. If I had rolled along with the strip's
popularity and repeated myself for another five, ten, or twenty years, the
people now "grieving" for Calvin and Hobbes would be wishing me dead and
cursing newspapers for running tedious, ancient strips like mine instead of
acquiring fresher, livelier talent. And I'd be agreeing with them. I think
some of the reason Calvin and Hobbes still finds an audience today is because
I chose not to run the wheels off it. I've never regretted stopping when I
did."

You could read that as being about Calvin and Hobbes specifically but it feels
to me that it's about cartooning in general.

It's understandable that someone who had achieved what he has achieved in the
medium felt that there wasn't too much more to do and that it was time to try
something else.

~~~
fusiongyro
Anybody who liked Garfield as a kid has an object lesson in exactly what he
was trying to avoid.

At the same time, I think the OP's point is that the "trying something else"
never seems to have materialized.

~~~
troygoode
He never said his "something else" would be something that could/should be
shared with the public.

~~~
fusiongyro
He never said it wouldn't, either, and our experience with creative people who
work in the public eye suggests that this is anomalous. I get that he's not,
like, accountable to us, but our expectations were not unreasonable and
neither is our disappointment. Of course if you have a gift, you can decide to
selfishly guard it instead of sharing it, even after sharing it for so long.
Doing so kind of makes you an asshole. Well within your rights, of course.

~~~
Tyrannosaurs
This comment reminds me of the Simpson's Treehouse of Horror episode where an
omnipotent Bart is forcing Crusty to perform 24 hours a day.

He made people happy for a decade (and longer with reruns and memories) and
you've decided he's an asshole for not doing it for longer.

I think that's harsh - ultimately you're saying you want him to do work he
isn't happy with and causes him stress for your entertainment.

~~~
fusiongyro
Your version of me is detestable, but it isn't what I'm really saying. I think
you should be able to appreciate the nuances of my point. When a person in a
particular line of work says they're going to work on different projects, you
interpret that differently than if they say they're going to retire. If
someone is not retiring but simply choosing not to exercise their talents,
they're being selfish. I am not saying he's an asshole for not doing C&H
anymore. I'm saying he's a hypocrite. That's fine, we all are to some extent,
but there's no need to promote him to sainthood or work over everything he's
ever said with laser precision to exonerate it. Sure, people run out. But
sometimes people just get selfish and lazy, and just as creating something
great once doesn't mean you necessarily have other great things in you, it
also doesn't exempt you from having to live in the world, work like the rest
of us, and deal with negative opinions.

~~~
Tyrannosaurs
It seems there is a reasonable but incorrect assumption here - that the next
thing he did would also be public. As I say, that assumption is perfectly
reasonable, but it was still an assumption rather than something he said and
it turned out to be incorrect.

If you think he knew for sure that he wouldn't do anything similar again yet
said this then you'd be justified in saying that he'd mislead people (which
wouldn't make him a hypocrite, rather an outright liar) but there's no
evidence that that's the case. The guy worshipped cartoons and had worked for
years to become then remain a cartoonist. As stressed as he'd been by it all I
suspect he felt there was a chance he'd return to it at some point (and may
still do, though that seems unlikely now).

But at the time he quit, like many people ending a long term, all consuming
project which has left them financially secure, all he really knew was that he
was going to take some time out then do something different without really
knowing what.

Sure it would have been great had he felt that he had another great, public
venture in him but he didn't and I don't think there's anything at all to
criticise in what he did or how he did it. That's not saying he's a saint (I
think he unwillingness to speak about almost anything since is slightly off,
though it is his right), just that I don't think he's done anything to deserve
criticism in the way you're suggesting.

------
marquis
I have this a permanent tab in my browser for when I need some downtime.

[http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes](http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes)

~~~
mark-r
That's what I have HN for.

~~~
Tyrannosaurs
For heartwarming tales of childish behaviour...

------
RodericDay
I love Calvin & Hobbes but I dislike how casually it's touted as the best
comic strip of all time.

It's pretty unfair given that most people haven't really exhausted the genre.
I think (Mafalda)[[http://hoodedutilitarian.com/2010/07/dwyck-the-dreams-of-
chi...](http://hoodedutilitarian.com/2010/07/dwyck-the-dreams-of-children/)]
is at least just as good.

~~~
adamc
I love Calvin & Hobbes as well, but I'd list Pogo as pretty serious
competition, and there are a number of other great, historically important
strips (e.g., Krazy Kat).

~~~
jljljl
Funny that you mention these two, as Bill Watterson cited both Pogo and Krazy
Kat as major influences on Calvin and Hobbes in the Tenth Anniversary Book.

BTW, if you are a fan and for some reason have not read the Tenth Anniversary
Book, I strongly recommend it. Watterson's commentary throughout is awesome
and really highlights the brilliance of the strip.

[http://www.amazon.com/Calvin-Hobbes-Tenth-Anniversary-
Book/d...](http://www.amazon.com/Calvin-Hobbes-Tenth-Anniversary-
Book/dp/0836204387)

------
estebank
[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3Awww.d...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache%3Awww.dearmrwatterson.com%2FDMW%2Fdearmrwatterson.html)

 _A documentary film about the impact of the best comic strip in the history
of the universe: Calvin & Hobbes_

~~~
danso
Thanks, I saw the .html in the URL and assumed the OP had a good ol' fashioned
static site.

Here's the Vimeo channel for the documentary:
[http://vimeo.com/dearmrwatterson](http://vimeo.com/dearmrwatterson)

Here's the synopsis:

\----------

Calvin & Hobbes dominated the Sunday comics in thousands of newspapers for
over 10 years, having a profound effect on millions of readers across the
globe. When the strip’s creator, Bill Watterson, retired the strip on New
Year’s Eve in 1995, devoted readers everywhere felt the void left by the
departure of Calvin, Hobbes, and Watterson’s other cast of characters, and
many fans would never find a satisfactory replacement.

It has now been more than a decade since the end of the Calvin & Hobbes era.
Bill Watterson has kept an extremely low profile during this time, living a
very private life outside of Cleveland, Ohio. Despite his quiet lifestyle, Mr.
Watterson is remembered and appreciated daily by fans who still enjoy his
amazing collection of work.

Mr. Watterson has inspired and influenced millions of people through Calvin &
Hobbes. Newspaper readership and book sales can be tracked and recorded, but
the human impact he has had and the value of his art are perhaps impossible to
measure.

This film is not a quest to find Bill Watterson, or to invade his privacy. It
is an exploration to discover why his 'simple' comic strip made such an impact
on so many readers in the 80s and 90s, and why it still means so much to us
today.

------
arms
I can't wait for this. I have fond memories of reading the Calvin & Hobbes
strips as a kid. 20 years later I still find myself flipping through the
anthologies and appreciating just how well written and imaginative the strips
are.

------
mr-ron
As a die hard fan, I was immensely disappointed in this documentary. If you
already know the story and have read the 10-year book, theres absolutely
nothing more to learn from this.

For casual fans, it would probably be great though.

------
aarondf
In case you can't get through, here's the kickstarter link:
[http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fingerprintfilms/dear-
mr...](http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fingerprintfilms/dear-mr-watterson-
a-calvin-and-hobbes-documentary)

------
m0shen
I saw this at the [Wisconsin Film Festival this
year]([http://wff.to/10SMEZh](http://wff.to/10SMEZh)). It was very well done,
with a fair amount of detail of Watterson's early work, inspirations and
philosophy. His peers in the cartooning world, fans and critics speak of what
he created with irreverence that seems mostly reserved for the great painters
of the past century. Simply: Watterson created art that has inspired a
generation.

As mentioned in some other comments, die-hard fans will probably not find any
new information here, but I would say see it anyway. Even people who haven't
even heard of Calvin & Hobbes, and casual readers should find it insightful
and entertaining.

------
jason_slack
I am becoming impressed with the documentaries coming from KickStarter
campaigns.

Indie Game: The Movie

Story of Mojang (Minecraft)

Now this......

------
Roboprog
Thank God for a respite from the endless stories of the empire that have been
on HN lately. I have very fond memories of Calvin & Hobbes, as well as Bloom
County, and was sad to see those strips shut down in the 90s. I guess it's
good for both artists that they quit before things got too tired, though.

Spaceman Spiff forever!

~~~
Roboprog
Oh, and can I get an "enterprise" version of the Transmogrifier? I'm gonna
need that.

------
tomrod
I'm very excited for this film.

