After a long, long time, Bill Watterson, creator of Calvin and Hobbes, has responded to an interview. Watterson, for those in the know, is a reclusive creator who prefers to spend his time away from the public adulation that came his way because of his strip. His ten years of newspaper cartooning ended with a self-imposed retirement, and along with his decision to end Calvin and Hobbes at that time, he also took the decision to not allow his strip and its characters to be used for merchandising of any sort, with the exception of collected book editions – the best-known of which was The Complete Calvin and Hobbes, the massive hardcover collection of all the C&H strips, published by Andrews McNeel in late 2005. I believe the last interview he gave was in association with that volume’s release, where he replied to questions from fans from all around the world.
This particular interview does not cover any new ground into understanding Watterson, his craft or his future plans. The questions that the interviewer asks are mostly to do with what the artist feels about his creation and its legacy after 15 years, his relationship with his fans, and his thoughts on his self-imposed exile from the comics world. Not surprisingly, almost all his responses are in tune with what he’s said earlier, with a wash of dry humor here and there. The only time we see a flash of hubris is in his concluding words about how he wants Calvin and his tiger to be remembered – “I vote for Calvin and Hobbes, eighth wonder of the world”. But knowing the way journalists invent soundbytes, or parting lines, I wouldn’t be surprised if these exact words were never uttered. Yep, we’ll never know for sure.
This link was posted in a forum I frequent, and some listers were quick to point out that Watterson seemed to be a little holier-than-thou with his principles, and very disinterested in his fans. There were also comments made about the fact that he’s shown fans of his art two raised middle fingers by donating all his art to the Ohio State University – yes, that’s an original art forum, and people do get very testy about lost art opportunities.
Obviously, I do not agree. I do not find anything in the interview ( or the interviews of his that I’ve read so far) that says Watterson is repulsed or does not care for fans. He’s honest about the strip – he put a lot of effort into it and is thankful readers appreciate it, but he does not want to capitalize on its success. There’s a bit of self-deprecating humor to what he says ( the comment about the groupies) but distaste? Not really. Again, speaking from personal experience, most people around me are crazy about C&H. Sometimes to such an extent that they are willing to quote chapter and verse and punchline from random strips during conversations. Hell, forget the creator, *I* am a little uncomfortable with the philosophical/life lessons they seem to find in their umpteenth reread of C&H collections. ( And that, in all honesty, is one of the reasons I choose to downplay my personal love for the strip, just because I do not want to be counted as part of this brigade. So sue me!) I cannot blame Watterson for being realistic and moving on with his life – his work is done, and he does not want to be a rock-star living off anniversary reunion performances. Good for him!