WHAT!?
Ok, that was my first reaction. Bill Watterson is famous for being reclusive—even during Calvin & Hobbes‘ fantastic run, you never saw photos of Watterson, rarely ever read interviews with him. He let his art speak for him.
And when Calvin & Hobbes ended, he pretty much vanished. The very few times he popped back into the public spotlight, it was huge news. Two years ago he contributed a painting for charity, inspired by Richard Thompson’s Cul de Sac. It was the first piece of art the public had seen from Watterson since 1995.
More recently, Watterson agreed to be interviewed (only audio, no video) for the Kickstarter-funded comic strip documentary Stripped (available through iTunes). Although there are a slew of fantastic comics artists in the documentary, it’s clear that getting Watterson involved was a huge win for the filmmakers, and even more so when he drew the cartoon poster for the movie—”his first cartoon in 19 years!” they proclaim.
Well, maybe the cartooning bug has bit Watterson again, because now we get to see his second, third, and fourth cartoon since Calvin & Hobbes, thanks to Stephan Pastis and his incredible good fortune. We can only hope.
Gah! Gah GAAAHHH!!!
(That was me totally geeking out.)
Abso-freaking-lutely incredible! As tingly as I feel right now, I can’t even imagine how Pastis feels. Probably walking in a dazed stupor in front of oncoming traffic. In his underwear.
Yeah—can you even imagine Bill Watterson asking if he could run some ideas by you? Uhhhhhh.