I think that Calvin and Hobbes is also a good reminder that stories need to have an end sometimes in this era of endless reboots and sequels.
2 weeks ago | 204
Sometimes realizations come with age, and I think that's perfectly normal. The more you walk in your own shoes makes you realize how similar of a pair someone else might've worn. Happy Birthday! 🎂
2 weeks ago
| 75
“…never became a vague pop culture reference” sir have you forgotten the stain on humanity that is “Calvin peeing on (ideology/concept/anything the small-brained driver doesn’t like)” bumper sticker? I adore the comics, and every time I see that I die a little more inside.
2 weeks ago | 25
I certainly agree! "We have merch to peddle" LMAO. Anyways, HAPPY BIRTH ANNIVERSARY :D
2 weeks ago | 37
You either die the Calvin & Hobbes, or live long enough to see yourself become the Dilbert
2 weeks ago | 4
I live in Japan. Snoopy is everywhere, but I doubt most people have actually read any Peanuts. Watterson was right about characters getting divorced from the strip.
2 weeks ago | 4
I like this channel, feels so relatable to me, love you guys and your work and everybody who reads this comment <3
2 weeks ago (edited)
| 16
dude I love bill watterson, massive respect for everything he did and his artistic integrity. BUT that's not the path for everyone, and that's completely fine! I hope you had a wonderful birthday :)
2 weeks ago (edited) | 7
Bill waterson was also rich when he retired in the mid 90’s so I’m sure he was able to soak the cost of that artistic integrity
2 weeks ago | 1
As much as I'd love official merch, not having any does push you to be creative yourself or support an artist (painter, sketcher, crocheter, sewer, etc). I once was able to get a free 12 month calendar off Snapfly(?) and I decided to use pictures of characters and real people who, at the time, were inspiring to me with related quotes they said. I was in a really bad depressive funk but creating the calendar pulled me out of it a bit...I used some Calvin and Hobbes official art, without the text bubbles, and I decided to use the "what's the point of being cool if you can't wear a sombrero?" (or however it goes) quote. Honestly, one of my favorite pages I did. After it became outdated I carefully tore it up and taped the "month art" sides by my bed, as a little collage of happy/inspiring things. Some of them I don't like anymore, one aged like fckn milk (JewWario 😭), but the Calvin and Hobbes one continues to bring me such comfort and joy when I look at it, even...gosh I think it's been a decade now since I first made it. 😅 And I don't think I'd have been so inspired by an official Calvin and Hobbes calendar that just threw some images together that matched the seasons. And yknow, I'm getting into crochet...maybe a Hobbes can be my first big projec
2 weeks ago | 1
Dadgum, I've loved Calvin and Hobbes since I first learned to read, 25 years, and I NEVER knew any of this 😢 so coo
2 weeks ago | 0
Yeah bill waterspn refused to make a Hobbes plush and that easily could've netted him a million dollars i have a great respect for him preserving his vision through the end of his career and beyond is insane every single C+H comic is purely calvin and hobbes he never clarified how Calvin was so smart, never clarified if hobbes was real because he knew what the POINT was and knowing that would stray from the POINT i think that type of persistence is totally insane and admirable because he's totally right a home made hobbes plush would be way cooler than anything he could sell and he was wise to end it when he did i admire him a lot
2 weeks ago | 4
"Selling out the newspaper comic strip -" in the LA book reveiw by Luke Epplin. It's a great piece comparing Bill Watterson and Charle Schulz approach to all thing's business and their artistic vision, with a sprinkling of their minimal correspondence throughout. Recommend y'all read it; it's Schulz biased as am I, but conscious of that in approaching both cartoonists.
2 weeks ago
| 2
Never thought of Watterson that way, but it all makes sense, he has always been one of the true masters for me, as Franquin, or Moebius, absolutely dedicated artists with no compromise, and, I think, disdain for money. Certainly some of their magic truth comes from this reckless innocence.
1 week ago | 0
MAD respect for him when he had every opportunity to make huge bank turning Calvin and Hobbes into another Garfield, but refused It was all for the love of the craft, and sharing it with others, not the money. I would have hated to see the ocean polluted with useless knickknacks with my characters faces on them
2 weeks ago | 0
I can't imagine myself retiring at that age. I feel like I'm barely getting started. Also, happy birthday!
2 weeks ago | 0
Bad Ink Studios
I had a birthday and realized that I am now as old as Bill Watterson was when he retired.
I used to think he was selfish for denying his fans more of what we loved, but part of getting older is gaining some perspective, and these days I respect him more and more with each passing year. His artistic integrity is unmatched in comics, in my opinion.
For those who weren’t alive in the 90s and early 2000s, you might not know that people openly called him naive and stupid for refusing to license his characters and for “quitting while he was ahead” when he suddenly stopped making Calvin and Hobbes.
“Think about how much money he could make if he just made CALENDARS. I mean, calendars ALONE.”
Time has shown that he was right, I think. We only remember it as a perfect comic strip. It never jumped the shark and it never became a vague pop culture reference of cute drawings on t-shirts divorced from the incredible writing.
As someone who absolutely would sell cute drawings of our characters on shirts, I wish I had that level of artistic integrity. It must have taken a lot of discipline to fight so hard and then walk away.
P.S. this post is just meant to be reflective and not some weird coded “I’m retiring too” post. I just re-read it and realized it could come across that way. We’re doing this for a lot longer. We have merch to peddle.
2 weeks ago | [YT] | 2,619