[HN Gopher] An Interview with Bill Watterson (1987)
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An Interview with Bill Watterson (1987)
Author : thunderbong
Score : 97 points
Date : 2024-12-05 17:05 UTC (5 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (timhulsizer.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (timhulsizer.com)
| bell-cot wrote:
| (1987)
| LeifCarrotson wrote:
| Aw nuts, I was hoping this was another new release. Watterson
| has famously been living quietly out of the public eye for
| almost 30 years now, but recently released a new short book in
| collaboration with John Kascht called "The Mysteries". He did
| appear in an interview on that:
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHND7L1wUl0
| LorenDB wrote:
| > Christie: Do you see yourself doing this forever?
|
| > Watterson: I'd like to, yeah, if the market will bear it.
|
| It would be interesting to see the state of Calvin and Hobbes had
| Watterson decided to keep running the strip.
| 7thaccount wrote:
| I grew up on Calvin and Hobbes and reread the comics every 5-10
| years or so.
|
| It is sad that Watterson no longer makes these comics, but I've
| scratched my itch by reading "Phoebe and her Unicorn". You can
| read it free online I think, but my daughter and I read the
| paperbacks. It's not quite the same (the unicorn is real), but
| shares a lot in common. I just thought I'd add this for any
| fellow Calvin and Hobbes fans on here.
| jjulius wrote:
| You'd be keen to know that, a year or two back, Watterson
| published his first piece of work since C&H ended. It's great -
| short, sweet, but great. :)
|
| https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Mysteries/Bill-Wa...
| duskwuff wrote:
| There's also his 2014 cameo in _Pearls before Swine_ :
|
| https://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2014/06/04
|
| https://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2014/06/05
|
| https://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2014/06/06
|
| And the story:
| https://stephanpastis.wordpress.com/2014/06/07/ever-
| wished-t...
| jjulius wrote:
| Ah yes, I forgot! Thanks for the reminder!
| henrikschroder wrote:
| "I could do better if I had more space"
|
| "Nah, the art form is dying"
|
| Absolutely hilarious meta-commentary!
| egypturnash wrote:
| When Dana got the syndication deal for Phoebe, they sent her a
| copy of the complete C&H. She's never been sure if it was a
| threat or not but she's got the distinct impression that there
| is a spot left in the comics pages by the absence of C&H that
| the syndicate wanted her to be filling.
| 7thaccount wrote:
| I didn't know about that. Sounds like a "please continue in
| this area" more than anything.
| vunderba wrote:
| Side note, but every time I _DON 'T_ see a Hobbes plushy, a
| Calvin bauble head, the Calvin and Hobbes TV series, etc. I'm so
| thankful that Watterson grimly held onto the merchandising rights
| of his characters.
|
| He maintained such a high standard for his comic right unto the
| end.
|
| Not everything in this world needs to be commoditized to death.
| _" But how will new generations learn about Calvin and Hobbes
| without Calvin and Hobbes: Gacha game for iOS?"_. They can
| experience it the same way that we all did - in syndicated comic
| form.
|
| https://www.abebooks.com/9780740748479/Complete-Calvin-Hobbe...
| MikeKusold wrote:
| The counterpoint is how many children would love their own
| stuffed Hobbes to be sitting next to them as their parents read
| a few comics to them.
|
| You can merchandise things without going overboard and losing
| your soul.
| jjulius wrote:
| You're definitely right that children would love that sort of
| thing.
|
| My perspective, as a parent of a 2 and 4 year-old, is that it
| would just be another stuffed animal. Both of my kiddos have
| their own massive pile of stuffed toys that people have given
| to them over the years. Much of them are forgotten about, and
| new stuffies are replaced after a short amount of time when a
| new one comes along or when they get bored of it. I can't
| tell you how many character stuffies my kids have been
| excited about only to all but forget about two days later.
|
| My kids would love it, sure, but for them it's just the
| security of a soft cozy friend that seems to be the most
| important thing. What it looks like/who it is seems to be
| secondary and entirely mood dependent. There's never been a
| moment where there's felt like a void because Hobbes isn't in
| bed with us, and he wouldn't be accomplishing anything that
| the rest of their stuffies aren't doing already, save for
| padding Watterson's retirement - which I think is part of his
| point.
|
| But everyone's different, so YMMV.
|
| Edit: I suppose if one of my kiddos asked for one and it was
| super important to them, it would be kind of fun for us to
| make one from scratch!
| dakna wrote:
| You can also make yourself a Hobbes costume and put that on
| when you read to your kid.
| barbazoo wrote:
| Exactly, doesn't always have to be garbage ordered from
| China through Amazon.
| hinkley wrote:
| I swear there used to be Hobbes plushies in the 90's. Did I
| imagine that? Did he change his mind and rescind rights later
| on?
| jjulius wrote:
| Probably unapproved third-party merch, like those bumper
| stickers where Calvin is pissing on something. Watterson is
| famous for having always been anti-merchandising.
| walterbell wrote:
| _> children would love their own stuffed Hobbes_
|
| In lieu of Hobbes(tm), sellers offer many choices.
|
| https://www.amazon.com/hobbes-stuffed-
| tiger/s?k=hobbes+stuff...
| mmastrac wrote:
| "unto the end" and "commoditized to death" made me briefly
| paranoid that Mr Watterson had died, but thankfully he is still
| quite alive:
|
| "Watterson lives in Cleveland Heights, Ohio as of January 2024"
| 508LoopDetected wrote:
| Even better, last year he published "The Mysteries", which to
| my understanding is his first book since Calvin & Hobbes
| ended!
|
| https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Mysteries/Bill-
| Wa...
| TecoAndJix wrote:
| I just panic googled him when i read that as well! Wording!
| vunderba wrote:
| Geez, sorry about that! He's alive and well and apparently
| quite the avid cyclist so likely hale and hearty!
| jjulius wrote:
| >They can experience it the same way that we all did - in
| syndicated comic form.
|
| You can also buy the entire series in a single collection. I've
| got it, it's great, and my kids love reading it with me.
| abhgh wrote:
| This was my first big purchase after I finished my Masters.
| Absolutely loved it. I would often pick a random volume out
| of the collection, open it to a random page and read.
| Delightful books, good memories.
| Miraste wrote:
| I have immense respect for Watterson. He's the only artist I
| can think of to achieve that level of fame and success and not
| sell out. Selling out is barely even a concept any more because
| it's simply assumed, and Watterson is still out there in a
| cabin in the woods, communicating only by mail and refusing
| every corporate offer that comes his way.
| psunavy03 wrote:
| I respect his decision, but for many people "selling out" is
| actually code for "financial security and stability for
| themselves and their families," which is not nothing and not
| necessarily worth scoffing at.
| Miraste wrote:
| Watterson did get financial security and stability from the
| success of the comic, he wasn't distributing it for free.
| The point after that is where you find selling out, and
| that's where he drew a line.
| boringg wrote:
| For example i think Taylor Swift isnt a sell out, theres
| still more avenues to pursue merch and tour gear to
| achieve financial stability.
| lkramer wrote:
| Fairly sure financial stability is not Taylor Swift's
| main concern...
| boringg wrote:
| Im being sarcastic :)
| NickC25 wrote:
| >He's the only artist I can think of to achieve that level of
| fame and success and not sell out.
|
| Gary Larson of _The Far Side_ comes close but never touched
| the highs of Calvin and Hobbes
| nemo44x wrote:
| Thomas Pynchon has as well but I guess he's not as famous.
| But certainly extremely successful.
|
| I respect him because a theme of Gravity's Rainbow is the
| observation that capitalism will absorb anything that is
| useful and you can't fight it as the fight against it will be
| commodified and sold. That you can only fly under the radar
| and avoid it - to just not create a market potential.
|
| He's certainly lived by that.
| khazhoux wrote:
| Whenever the topic of copyright comes up on HN, the prevailing
| view in comments section is that copyrights should be
| relatively short and cultural artifacts should be available to
| everyone to use as they please.
|
| So I find it interesting ("interesting") how people seem to
| universally appreciate that Calvin & Hobbes are protected from
| any 3rd-party use, meanwhile they universally revile Disney for
| not allowing people to do what they want with (and to) Mickey
| Mouse.
| jjulius wrote:
| Well, life is incredibly nuanced, there's no black and whites
| and we often have to deal with double-edged swords. :)
|
| To me, there's a bit of a difference between the two. In one
| instance, you've got a single corporation owning all the
| rights to a property and getting _all_ of the cash from the
| sale of goods related to that property. This is a single
| party who gets to decide what to do with the IP, and often
| times this can irk fans and rub them the wrong way.
|
| In another instance, you've got C&H released from copyright.
| _Nobody_ owns the rights, so anybody can do anything with it
| - assholes can make cheap merchandise for the sake of fast
| cash the way Disney might with its own IP, but now that there
| are plenty of other vendors making like-products, we have
| choices and don 't have to buy from one person. The
| alternatives available are also likely to be made by actual
| fans with a passion for the project. Broadly speaking, fans
| can't get irked the way they do when Disney makes a change,
| because whatever is out there by a third-party is just their
| creative take on it, not the single rights holder going,
| "This is the way the IP's universe is now, and what has been
| canon for thirty years is no longer so, please keep giving us
| cash".
|
| You're right - one decision impacts another in a less than
| ideal way. But there's a balance and we have to find the
| right balance. :)
| CSMastermind wrote:
| Watterson's motivation seems to be to preserve the integrity
| of his art.
|
| Disney's motivation seems to be to preserve their profit
| margins on hyper commercializing the creations of others.
| khazhoux wrote:
| Watterson _is_ motivated by integrity, I have no doubt of
| that.
|
| But Disney is also motivated --at least partly-- by
| integrity. Yes, they want to control profits, clearly. But
| I have no doubts they want to preserve the integrity of
| their character also.
|
| > the creations of others
|
| Others? Even after Walt's death, Mickey Mouse has been
| overseen by a continuous line of people who care about the
| character's integrity.
| endemic wrote:
| Corporations aren't people
| khazhoux wrote:
| Many things are not other things.
|
| In this case, Disney Inc is staffed by people who care
| deeply about the Disney legacy. You'll be hard pressed to
| find a single employee who was not awe-struck walking the
| halls on the first day
| walterbell wrote:
| A living artist exercising creative control is different from
| an immortal corporation repeatedly lobbying governments to
| extend copyright beyond an artist's lifetime.
| khazhoux wrote:
| It's disingenuous to suggest people are mainly interested
| in Watterson's ability to control the profits of C&H during
| his lifetime. No, it's because we cherish C&H's purity and
| are protective of it. I claim it's a purely emotional
| thing.
| walterbell wrote:
| No claims were made about the interests of "people".
| hinkley wrote:
| We don't revile Disney for not letting us make Mickey Mouse
| slash fiction.
|
| We revile them because in order to protect a 90 year old
| mouse cartoon they've made it so no English teacher below
| high school can teach any literature that is younger than 100
| years old, because it's too expensive to reprint it.
| khazhoux wrote:
| That is an excellent distinction, thank you.
| CrazyStat wrote:
| Mickey Mouse (and Calvin and Hobbes) would still be protected
| by trademark if copyrights were much shorter.
| aidenn0 wrote:
| A couple of points:
|
| 1. If copyright lasted 40 years, then C&H would still be
| under copyright, and the first 46 _years_ of Mickey would be
| not; The first C &H strip is closer to today than it is to
| the first Mickey cartoon.
|
| 2. There is a difference between picking the rules and
| picking the preferred behavior under existing rules; if
| someone thought copyright should only last 20 years, then one
| reasonably believe both that C&H ought not be under copyright
| _and_ respect Watterson 's anti-merchandising point of view.
| Plenty of people who say that "Every billionaire is a policy
| failure" may also laud the donations of particularly
| philanthropic billionaires.
| CrazyStat wrote:
| I recently got that boxed set for my son's birthday. I think
| I've spent more time reading it than he has, though I'm sure
| he'll get into it eventually.
| tim333 wrote:
| Also available online - first strip
| https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1985/11/18
|
| or if you go to https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes they
| cycle through them daily, as I do.
| Suppafly wrote:
| >I'm so thankful that Watterson grimly held onto the
| merchandising rights of his characters.
|
| I'm always kind of bummed about it, instead of quality official
| merchandise there are a bunch of peeing calvin stickers on
| lifted pickup trucks.
| ChrisMarshallNY wrote:
| But these are a channel of national discourse!
|
| https://theonion.com/peeing-calvin-decals-now-recognized-
| as-...
| 01HNNWZ0MV43FF wrote:
| I want a sticker of Calvin peeing on a pickup truck
| casenmgreen wrote:
| > Blocked because of application > Your computer has been
| blocked because of an application detected in your system. For
| more information, contact the system administrator.
|
| No Tor browsers.
| recursive wrote:
| > detected in your system
|
| How?
| belmead wrote:
| I recently found my old copies of the Calvin & Hobbes collections
| (The Days are Just Packed, etc.). I read them when I was around
| 8, and I have a son due next year. Can't wait to pass it on.
| belfalas wrote:
| Man was Calvin & Hobbes awesome. IMNSHO every comic strip
| currently in print still lives in its shadow. C&H had it all -
| good illustration, good writing, life insight. It was a real life
| line for weird kids.
| Loughla wrote:
| I don't know. The farside is pretty good, as well as Pearls
| Before Swine. Oh, and Cyanide and Happiness.
|
| None of them reach the meta level of social/theological
| commentary that C&H did, but they're still really, really good
| on their own, doing their own things.
| whartung wrote:
| Meanwhile, Berke Breathed is still available, still producing,
| still an amazing artist.
|
| Even with a million Opus dolls, I don't think any of it has
| chained him down or held him back.
| MrMcCall wrote:
| To each their own, and I love BB just as much as I love BW (and
| Gary Larson).
|
| No matter which decisions we make, we must live with them.
| selimthegrim wrote:
| Let us see what levels of Trump antagonism he will rise to
| MrMcCall wrote:
| One of my son's best investments was his buying the Complete
| Calvin & Hobbes.
|
| He also got the Complete Far Side and Bloom County as well. Both
| our teenagers have read them both.
|
| It's funny hearing them know how Bill the Cat's brain was
| switched (?) into Donald Trumps brain. Ack-thpptt!
|
| I only read them in the newspaper and in a couple of treasuries,
| but never completely, as our kids have.
|
| What a remarkable blessing for them to be able to read those
| strips beginning-to-end.
| walrus01 wrote:
| Unfortunately Watterson's position doesn't really seem to have
| stopped the completely unauthorized "Calvin pissing on
| (whatever)" stickers sold at truck stops throughout the US and
| Canada.
| munchler wrote:
| This is from an era when the entire country was reading the same
| comic strips every day, watching the same TV shows, getting the
| same news, etc. I don't think either the interviewer or Watterson
| had any idea that mainstream media would be so completely
| fragmented within a few decades.
| r9295 wrote:
| I was gifted the entire collection a couple of years ago by my
| father, having grown up adoring Calvin and Hobbes, mostly thanks
| to him. I used to re-read the few books at the local library over
| and over again. The Christmas strips were my favourite, because I
| hadn't experienced snow at the time.
|
| The entire collection opened a window into Watterson's evolution.
| He became a bit more cynical as time passed. I loved it.
|
| Reading about his respect for his work, his refusal to sell out
| and his restraint made so much sense. You could feel it, the way
| these characters came to life. The essence ever intact.
|
| Forever changed, forever grateful
| syndicatedjelly wrote:
| His commencement speech at Kenyon in 1990 is also a brilliant
| read:
|
| https://web.mit.edu/jmorzins/www/C-H-speech.html
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