The Boy, The Tiger- The Man

Recently, I received the entire collection of Calvin & Hobbes as a gift. The other day, I read through the first 10 or so pages, in which Bill Watterson, the author, dictates his journey to the two witty characters of his infamous comic strip.

What struck me the most was his passion to be a comic strip writer in the first place. And he tried everything. He admits that he was never the greatest cartoonist or artist for that matter, but he figured that was much simpler than, say, any formidable drawing. He wrote comics for school papers and tried a few political cartoons, but they were never that successful and they weren't really what he was after.

The fact is that Watterson's Calvin & Hobbes started as secondary characters in a comic he was submitting to various agencies and papers. Finally one syndicate that picked him up mentioned that perhaps he should expound on those two secondary characters as they seemed to have the most depth. Watterson agreed, and what he really saw in Calvin & Hobbes was himself.

He was finally drawing and forming characters that developed as he did and with college background in political science (which by the way, he had no real interest or knowledge of until college), he was able to communicate his thoughts, questions, and ideas to the world. What's even more intriguing was the fact that he had no desire to ever be in the lime light. He frequently backed away from interviews and the most well known picture of Watterson is a picture taken in 1985 is his office. He also defended his artistry and other than the books themselves, never officially authorized any other type of merchandise, such as plush toys or animated films.

Watterson as a man, we saw through the eyes of a little boy and his stuffed tiger. He was doubtful that his characters would succeed, esp. b/c Peanuts had already taken children to a whole new maturity level. Nevertheless, he found an audience, he made his wife laugh and he was good at it...

To me? Watterson was about quiet passion and hard work and that is really amazing.