Yes, that headline is true: The Calvin & Hobbes creator resurfaced last month! If you’re a fan (I might possibly own six collections of the comics), you’ll recognize Bill Watterson’s style of drawing immediately:
Watterson is a notorious recluse who avoids publicity, so “Pearls Before Swine” comic creator Stephan Pastis scored quite the coup by not only communicating with Watterson but also getting him to contribute to three comics. However, for me the best part was the backstory leading up to these comics. In this blog post, Pastis tells how he reached out to Watterson, was ignored, and dared to try again. It’s worth reading, even if you aren’t a comic strip reader (I’m generally not) and you don’t know Calvin & Hobbes (which I most certainly DO).
Two notes: Pastis links to the comics, but you might have to keep refreshing before they’ll load. This will improve once everyone on the internet has finished clicking a bunch of times. Do click the links to the comics, though, because it’s classic Watterson — and the comments on the comics are hilarious because readers didn’t know for a few days that they were drawn by Watterson.
(Third note: I just discovered that Pastis lives a little more than an hour away from me, in Santa Rosa, Calif.)
I LOVE Calvin and Hobbes. It was one of my favorite comics to read growing up as a child. So sad when Watterson decided to stop. I remember reading PBS and wondering who the guest artist was but didn’t know until I read Pastis blog post! Hilarious.