"That little guy with the round glasses, who was really strange."


Born July 5th, 1958 in Washington, D.C. He moved at age 6 to Chagrin Falls, Ohio. He has a younger brother. Watterson's parents both served on the city council, and Bill senior was a patent attorney. From a young age, Watterson knew he wanted to draw his own cartoons. Calvin and Hobbes was not his first creation; he had drawn up comics for the school newspaper, and during his stay at Kenyon College he drew for the Kenyon Collegian. He Graduated from Kenyon College in , Ohio, in 1980 with a degree in political science, but says: "I always wanted to draw a comic strip." He lives with his wife, Melissa, their adopted children and several cats in Hudson, Ohio.

After a brief job as a political cartoonist for the Cincinnati Post, he took a job creating advertisement layouts for a tabloid newspaper, a job he hated. After a while he couldn't take it anymore, and decided to get back into the comics business. His first attempts at a syndicated comic strip, including one strip he submitted to syndicates for review called "Spaceman Mort", all fell through. In November 1985, he finally created Calvin and Hobbes, which quickly skyrocketed to fame and eventually appeared in over 2,300 newspapers around the globe.

"Besides being well drawn and well written, 'Calvin and Hobbes' is unusual," says NCS president Mel Lazerus. "It captured everybody's interest overnight."

Calvin and Hobbes kept growing in popularity on through the early 1990's, widely regarded as the strip's heyday. The 90's also saw the Sunday layouts get more creative, as Watterson bargained for more panel flexibility. The Sunday pages became vast canvases, Calvin's dreams and adventures more fantastic and complex. At the same time, other comic artists griped and labeled Watterson's panel privileges excessive and egotistic. Other pressures including the licensing fight with the syndicate caused Watterson to take two nine-month-long sabbaticals, making him the "Lazy Cartoonist" poster boy. But, as he mentioned in The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book, "In fact, I am not a big advocate of long breaks, or for that matter, of reruns."

Watterson was nominated for the 1992 Reuben Award for "Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year" by the National Cartoonists Society, and won the 1986 and 1988 Reuben Awards. In 1986, he was the youngest recipient to ever win the award.

On December 31st, 1995, the last Calvin and Hobbes strip was published, and Watterson quit the strip. Watterson stated: "This is not a recent or easy decision, and I leave with some sadness. My interests have shifted, however, and I believe I've done what I can do within the constraints of daily deadlines and small panels. I am eager to work at a more thoughtful pace, with fewer artistic compromises. I have not yet decided on future projects, but my relationship with Universal Press Syndicate will continue."

He now lives a quiet, private life in Ohio, and declines offers to merchandise his creation. He also ceased giving interviews around 1987, although he was generous enough to give his thoughts on select strips at the Calvin and Hobbes: Sunday Pages 1985-1995 exhibition at the Ohio State Cartoon Research Library, Sept. 10th 2001-Jan. 16th 2002. His current activities include oil painting with his father in the woods, and trying to learn something about music.

He has donated 3,000 original comic strips to be placed on long-term deposit in the Ohio State University Cartoon Research Library. In addition to the 3,000 strips, the collection includes original watercolors that Watterson painted for use as cover art on Calvin and Hobbes books.The Cartoon Research Library is open to the public, although Watterson's collection is subject to "special-use" regulations. "It's not a browsing collection, we do ask people to make an appointment and to follow our guidelines for special use."For more information on the Cartoon Research Library, visit cartoons.osu.edu. BACK TO TOP

[ also ]

autobiography

christie interview

west interview

comments on calvin and hobbes by cartoonists

question and answer with 'calvin and hobbes' creator

[ and ]

the cheapening of comics

thoughts on comics and calvin and hobbes

thoughts on licensing and calvin and hobbes

thoughts on the real world by one who glimpsed it and fled