Talk:Bill Watterson

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Watterson published one book where he had the cartoon strips interspersed with commentary about them--kind of a DVD edition, I guess ;-) --and in that one he talks about his battle with his publisher over the format of the Sunday comics, and goes into some detail explaining what that format is and how it constrained him, as well as the protracted fight over it and his eventual victory. I read that when the book first came out and don't have the details with me--can someone who knows them please add them? --KQ

I have that book. It's the tenth anniversary Calvin & Hobbes collection.. I did mention his battles with the publisher... I didn't want to weigh the article down too heavily on those things though so i decided to leave out some of the less important details... ~ Jimmy Lo

Oh, ok then. Maybe you're right; I'm not sure how interesting all that would be for the layman. --KQ

Probably more interesting than you're it giving credit for - Bill saw the writing on the wall concerning copyrights and started a minor revolution about how artists licensed their work to publishers and syndicates. What we see in a lot of the self-published strips on the Internet was influenced by Watterson's actions and opinions. --idiosynchronic, idiosynchronicATGmail.com

Contents 1 Pre C&H work? 2 Post C&H work? 3 Watterson's resemblence 4 Watterson picture 5 Inaccuracy 6 Calvin and Hobbes Influence 7 Trivia 8 Painting 9 Retirement 10 Bibliography 11 Cycling?

[edit] Pre C&H work?

It would have been great for the article to have an example of his pre-C&H work; i.e. the political cartoons he did for the Cincinnati Post. Have these been published in any sort of collection? I can't recall having seen any of them, ever. Mortene 22:56, 25 Dec 2004 (UTC)

• Here's a great site that purports to have some early work of Watterson's. http://ignatz.brinkster.net/cbillart.html. You can see Watterson's unique style within them.

[edit] Post C&H work?

For an example of how Calvin maybe would have turned out look no further than http://sinfest.net by Tatsuya Ishida... Personally I think this fits to a tee what Calvin would be like were he to grow up. Irreverent, criticising faults in others but not seeing his own and having a complex relationship to authority. And don't forget the girl he know he wants but he never can figure out for himself how to get... -- Lindus

[edit] Watterson's resemblence

I'm sure some of you have noticed this, but I just wanted to point out that Watterson looks very much like Calvin's dad, save for the mustache. Scorpionman 01:54, 7 October 2005 (UTC)

Yeah, I've noticed that too. I think I remember reading somewhere that Watterson said none of the characters are based off his life, but the resemblance between himself and Calvin's dad is uncanny. Harksaw 14:43, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Watterson picture

Should this page carry A picture of Watterson when it's well known he doesn't like publicity of most kinds?... Personally I probably would'nt include it, but I was just wondering if anyone else felt the same.

I really don't see anything wrong with it. It's not really publicity. It is just a reference picture, so we can have some idea of what he looks like.

I agree - the picture is very importaint. Scorpionman is right; minus the moustache, he's a dead ringer for Calvin's dad! Knowing that makes it a lot easier to see how Watterson uses Calvin's father in the strip as a mouthpiece for many of his own values. Harkenbane 17:40, 2 December 2005 (UTC)

Despite his personal reclusiveness, Watterson is still a public figure. Iceberg3k 20:14, 9 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Inaccuracy

Watterson believes that art should not be judged by the medium for which it is created (i.e., that there is no "high" art or "low" art, just art)

A nitpick, but I don't think the line in the parentheses is true. Whether art is "high" or "low" does not necessarily depend on the medium. Thoughts? -falqas

Bill Watterson no longer lives in Chagrin Falls, OH. He moved to Cleveland Heights, OH in October of 2004. I'd rather not provide the source for this as it reveals his full address.Silentmars 13:55, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Calvin and Hobbes Influence

Much of the influence of Calvin and Hobbes comes from his childhood in Chagrin Falls. The schoo's mascot is a Tiger and Mrs. Wormwood is based upon a teacher who still substitutes these days named Mrs. Maus. You can often see the falls and the popcorn shop in his strip.

[edit] Trivia

I've added the mp3 link once again. Earlier edit removed it, citing it as offensive, not sure why. Want to discuss here? Also, removed trivia point about Bill's brother working at a school in some state (start adding family members, where do you finish, and is such information encyclopaedic?) --OscarTheCat^talk 08:06, 15 March 2006 (UTC)

Honestly, I think it's just creepy. I'm removing it because I don't really think it's appropriate for the Bill Watterson article, you know, to mention a popstar pretending to be his stalker. It's just bizarre, and hardly relevant, unless it was something publicly recognized, which it is not.

I'm also curious as to how to reword the Garfield thing. Watterson's only comment on Garfield that I'm aware of its that it is "consistent;" he never out-and-out trashed Garfield the way it sounds like he did, and he has said that the reason that he never licensed Calvin and Hobbes is that any merchandise presented to him seemed like it went against the spirit of the strip.

Let's try to keep the Watterson entry relevant only to things related to Watterson... the Watterson-stalking popstar could have put the name of any public figure in that song without changing its concept (and the song is not at all culturally important, it's like naming every song to mention the X-Men in the X-Men article), and what Watterson thinks of the comics' leading strip is hardly "trivia." 67.101.7.248 10:29, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Painting

I remember hearing somewhere that Watterson paints a lot, but destroys all his paintings in a fire at the end of each week so that none may profit from it. Is there any validity to this? Have I got him confused with someone else? -Bordello 22:40, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

• I read that someplace too, but I've no way of knowing if it's true.--Valin Kenobi130.71.13.249 20:20, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Retirement

Should the "Retirement" section have a date with the last published comic on it and possibly which comic it was?

[edit] Bibliography

Don't most authors have a bibliography section in their biographies? Should I *have* to go to Calvin and Hobbes to get a list of books Bill Watterson has authored? dreddnott 01:09, 30 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Cycling?

Greetings C&H fans, The first item under Trivia states that BW incorporated cycling as a theme of C&H. While I unfortunately haven't read all the strips ever published, I do have 5 albums and have seen many strips over the years, but as far as I can recall, have never seen the slightest reference to cycling, or even a bike - unless, of course, it is an American English term for racing downhill in a blur and flying off the edges of various things in a wagon, sled, or toboggan. Please put my mind at ease, or I'll have to slap a "citation needed" in there. Thanx, --Technopat 00:48, 25 February 2007 (UTC)

You should slap it. MURGH ^disc. 02:09, 25 February 2007 (UTC)

Calvin's dad is an avid biker. There are several strips that refer to this (interesting since they're some of the few strips in which C. doesn't appear at all). Gotterfunken 02:22, 25 February 2007 (UTC)