Being a huge newspaper/anime comics fan (also ‘traditional’ e.g. Marvel/DC too but not quite as much) it was a sad day many years ago when Calvin and Hobbes creator Bill Watterson hung up his drawing tools seemingly for good. Barring some nice compilation(s), there hasn’t nary been a peep out of him since the end of 1995, when he ended the strip.

Last October, a self-described ‘diehard fan’ published a biography of sorts on Watterson and most prominently, Calvin and Hobbes itself. I was finally able to read a copy of this book at the end of last week. My impressions are thus:

a) I liked the book. I liked the extent to which the author (Nevin Martell) goes all out to find every source and potential lead he can about C&H, its elusive author, and any other history, talkative peer cartoonist, diehard celebrity fan or supporting information he can find to tell the story at its most effective. I also appreciated the respect paid to Watterson’s privacy (especially considering what’s happened to privacy as a general matter since Watterson retired – going kablooie as we speak! :() even if it meant some information could simply not be obtained in the end. Good for Mr. Martell.

b) I was also glad to see this book come out because while the strip isn’t coming back, this country (and perhaps world?) needs Calvin’s biting commentary (and Hobbes’ sage wisdom, often looking at humanity from the outside with more than a small puzzled expression) more than ever. Not that C&H ever needed any help with growing their fan base, but this book helps remind us they are still out there when we need them, even if Watterson himself has long since moved on.

c) Finally – even after having read this book, i’m left with more than a little puzzlement myself – do I have a better sense of Bill Watterson the person? Do I better understand the sources of his enormous talent and special sensitivity as expressed in C&H? I have to say in both cases, possibly no. Despite reading a work as detailed as this one, i’m still wondering about Watterson’s fundamental abhorrence of his own success. I remember reading the Tenth Anniversary book some time ago and thinking BW came across as more than a little sanctimonious in the surrounding notes and essays included – Sure, he’s more than earned the right to have strong opinions about his own industry and his own/others’ place in it, but at times it came across like ‘most cartoonists are sellouts and I’m not, even though I’m way more successful than most of them!’ – not really the most convincing argument when examined in the bigger scheme.

I think Mr. Martell tries to strike a better balance on this particular point, and does take pains to point out the effect of BW’s stance on his peers and even his employers. While no one will be particularly sympathetic to a large publishing syndicate missing out on (yet another) big cartoonist cash-in – Watterson sets the bar higher than anyone before (and likely anyone else will, ever) in his ‘leave me alone’ stance. It is to his syndicate’s credit that they let him get away with it and not haul in the lawyers to get rid of him and keep the strip going with unknown writers and artists behind the scenes. Definitely adding to the allure of C&H – but still not completely explaining why BW felt so strongly about those issues.

Sidebar: The research done in this book paid off for me in two other neat ways – Martell interviews several cartoonists I had never heard of (and now can check out), and, he took a trip to the Cartoon Library and Museum at Ohio State University in Columbus. Bill Watterson contributed a very impressive amount of artwork, materials and personal items in and around C&H to this museum, meaning it’s going to be a ‘must visit’ next time I’m in Ohio, definitely!

I guess in the end, C&H is apparently one of those rare art creations we are simply meant to enjoy on any level we can, and not bother the creator for the ‘how’ beyond anything he cares to offer. And I can definitely live with that. Thanks to Mr. Martell for writing this book and for reminding us how great a creation C&H truly is, and how much Watterson really sweated the details to make it that way during its run.

candybowl