Bill Watterson
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William B. "Bill" Watterson II (born July 5, 1958) is the author of the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes and a few poems (which are mostly embedded in his works).
Life
Watterson was born in Washington, D.C., where his father, James G. Watterson (1932 – ), worked as a patent examiner while going to law school, until becoming a patent attorney in 1960. The family moved to Chagrin Falls, Ohio when Bill was six years old; his mother (Kathryn) became a city council member. He has a younger brother, Tom, who is a high school teacher in Austin, Texas.
Early career
In 1980, Watterson graduated from Kenyon College in Gambier with a degree in political science. Immediately the Cincinnati Post offered him a job drawing political cartoons for a six-month trial period:
Bill Watterson designed grocery advertisements for four years prior to working on the strip which made him famous, Calvin and Hobbes.
Rise to success
Calvin and Hobbes was first published on November 18, 1985. Bill Watterson wrote in his Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book that his influences include Charles Schulz, for his work in Peanuts; Walt Kelly for his comic, Pogo; and George Herriman for Krazy Kat. Watterson's style also reflects the influence of Little Nemo in Slumberland, a popular early 20th century comic strip by Winsor McCay.
Watterson spent much of his career trying to change the climate of newspaper comics. He believed that the artistic value of comics was being undermined, and that the space they occupied in newspapers continually decreased, subject to arbitrary whims of short-sighted publishers. Furthermore, he opined 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).
Watterson opposed the structure publishers imposed on newspaper cartoons: the standard cartoon starts with a large, wide rectangle featuring the cartoon's logo, and the strip is presented in a series of rectangles of different widths, limiting the cartoonist's options of allowable presentation. Watterson managed to gain an exception to these constraints for Calvin and Hobbes, allowing him to draw his Sunday cartoons the way he wanted. In many of his strips, the panels overlap or contain their own panels; in some the action takes place diagonally across the strip.
Watterson also battled against pressure from publishers to merchandise his work, something that he felt would cheapen his comic. He refused to merchandise his creations on the grounds that pasting Calvin and Hobbes images on commercially-sold coffee mugs, stickers and t-shirts would devalue the characters and their personalities. He also refused to allow the strip to appear as an animated series.
Watterson was awarded the National Cartoonists Society Humor Comic Strip Award in 1988, and awarded the society's Reuben Award in 1986 (he was the youngest person ever to receive the award). In 1988, Watterson received the Reuben award again, and he was nominated again in 1992. Following his 1992 nomination, the National Cartoonists Society declared that no artist could win the award more than once.
Watterson wrote a brief, tongue-in-cheek autobiography in the late 1980s.
Retirement
The last strip of Calvin and Hobbes was published on December 31, 1995. Since retiring, Bill Watterson has taken up painting, often drawing landscapes of the woods with his father. He has also published several anthologies of Calvin and Hobbes strips.
According to the October 2005 issue of Maxim, Watterson requested that Universal Press Syndicate not forward any fan mail.
Living in relative seclusion in Chagrin Falls with his wife Melissa, Watterson refuses to sign autographs or give interviews, emerging only occasionally into the public eye. On December 21, 1999, a short piece called ["Drawn Into a Dark But Gentle World,"] written by Watterson to mark the forthcoming end of the comic strip Peanuts, was published in the Los Angeles Times, and most recently in October of 2005, Watterson answered fifteen questions submitted by readers. The Wattersons have been seen sometimes roller skating at the rink in Chagrin Falls.
Trivia
- He is a good friend of Lynn Johnston, creator of For Better or For Worse.
- Was vocally critical of Jim Davis and his decision to license his strip Garfield to so many different things, saying that it "cheapened" the originality of the strip.
References
External links
- [Michael's Calvin and Hobbes Website-Bill Watterson] Includes information about the genius behind Calvin and Hobbes, as well as speeches and interviews.
- [Calvin & Hobbes Comics at goComics]
- ["After an Early Bedtime, Calvin and Hobbes Are Up and Running in a New Collection"] - Washington Post book review of "The Complete Calvin and Hobbes", October 2005, including broad look at Watterson's career.
- [Interview with Bill Watterson's mother] (interview begins around 7:10)
- [Of Counsel - James G. Watterson] - Watts Hoffman law firm bio of Bill's father
- [Chagrin Falls Council Staff] - Picture of Bill's father (the inspiration of Calvin's father)
| Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson |
|---|
| Characters |
| Calvin | Hobbes | Secondary characters |
| Terms and objects |
| Horrendous Space Kablooie > Opposite Day | Transmogrifier |
| Other |
| Calvin and Hobbes in translation > List of Calvin and Hobbes books | References to Calvin and Hobbes | Setting of Calvin and Hobbes |
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