Calvin and Hobbes Creator Bill Watterson Gives Rare Interview

The timing is uncanny: Within mere days of the passing of J.D. Salinger, whose work remained beloved long after he withdrew from public life, another creative, intensely private man has resurfaced to speak publicly. And as the Washington Post points out, he had been described by his peers as the J.D. Salinger of cartooning.

Bill Watterson, the man behind the beloved comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, has astonished fans and the media alike by granting what is believed to be his first interview since 1989, and among the very few ever granted. Furthermore, rather than granting access to any of the 900-pound gorillas of the media world, he spoke via email with John Campanelli, a reporter with his local paper, The Cleveland Plain Dealer.

To underscore Watterson's success at shunning the spotlight, the picture that shows a smiling Watterson seated at the drawing table where paper and ink were transformed paper into something alive, imagination-grabbing, and laugh inducing is the only such picture of the artist known to have been made available to the media.

The 10-year run was notorious for an increasingly soured relationship between artist and comic syndicate stemming largely from Watterson holding firm to principle: Universal Press Syndicate saw piles of dollars to be made off the popular strip, but Watterson refused to license his creations for commercial purposes.

It has been 15 years since the last strip appeared, but the ongoing popularity is revealed by the post office's recent announcement that the boy and his tiger will be included in the Sunday Funnies series of collectible stamps due out in July.

In addition, the independent film Dear Mr. Watterson is currently in production, made from a collection of the thanks and reflections of fans sharing the impact and joy the strip brought to their lives.

The entire exchange between Campanelli and Watterson may be found at the Plain Dealer website. A key point Watterson states clearly is that he has no regrets about stopping when he did, at the very top of his game:

"It's always better to leave the party early. If I had rolled along with the strip's popularity and repeated myself for another five, 10 or 20 years, the people now 'grieving' for 'Calvin and Hobbes' would be wishing me dead and cursing newspapers for running tedious, ancient strips like mine instead of acquiring fresher, livelier talent. And I'd be agreeing with them."

Not surprisingly, the interviewer himself has become a story. How did a small market newsman snag an interview with among the most reclusive of figures? Campanelli recounts his high level of surprise to have actually heard back from his unsolicited query to The Washington Post, in which he also notes the coincidental timing, but states that his email exchange took place before Salinger's passing. Photo copyright Cleveland Plain Dealer via Wikipedia