4 ms·

Obviously, his attitude/philosophy towards C&H hasn't changed much in the past 15 years. It's almost like he pities his legions of fans for digging the strip so

by bgraves 17y ago

Obviously, his attitude/philosophy towards C&H hasn't changed much in the past 15 years. It's almost like he pities his legions of fans for digging the strip so much. When ever I read the interviews from years ago or even some of the strip commentary, I feel like Watterson's just got a giant chip on his shoulder and I kinda want to hate the guy. I started reading C&H when I was 11-12 and my son has been interested since before he could even read on his own. This strip touches on something that I haven't found with _any_ other strip. Peanuts was great in it's time (I guess, I never really liked it.) But I can read C&H a zillion times and never get bored. I just wish Mr. Watterson wasn't so off-putting, it would be nice to get more insight into his creativity as opposed to the shoulder-shrug and giant "meh" that's he's provided so far.

sp332 17y ago
He was really put off by the publicity and loss of privacy when the strip got really popular. Rumor has it he paints landscapes and then burns them. http://quazen.com/arts/animation/bill-watterson-and-calvin-and-hobbes/ http://quazen.com/arts/animation/bill-watterson-and-calvin-a...
- deleted 17y ago
  [deleted]
- jamesbritt 17y ago
  He's our Salinger.
mquander 17y ago
I haven't read his prior interviews, but I must say, I took away none of that from this one. He seems to display an appropriate humility about his art: "Readers will always decide if the work is meaningful and relevant to them, and I can live with whatever conclusion they come to...I'm proud of the strip, enormously grateful for its success, and truly flattered that people still read it." Although we all hope for some kind of tremendous story of revelation and inspiration and toil behind meaningful art, I don't think you can really fault him just because he doesn't have one ready to offer.
- bgraves 17y ago
  There's a great C&H collection with tons of commentary [1]. He does talk about the creative process a bit and how he loathes certain aspects of the newspaper industry. I find it all very fascinating and could probably watch an entire documentary series on this guy and what he went through during his career. [1] http://books.google.com/books?id=xtiMQXCLdJEC&lpg=PP1&dq=isbn%3A0836204387&pg=PA6#v=onepage&q=&f=false http://books.google.com/books?id=xtiMQXCLdJEC&lpg=PP1&#3...
  - mquander 17y ago
    Thank you very much for digging that up. It's an interesting piece of background.
    - bgraves 17y ago
      You are welcome. I just stumbled across this collection from WikiQuotes; very much worth a browsing (if you've read C&H). http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bill_Watterson http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bill_Watterson
  - deleted 17y ago
    [deleted]
  - albertsun 17y ago
    I read and re-read this book probably 100 times. It's really amazing. There's another collection of Sunday strips that has some commentary and the original sketches of the comic too that I really liked. http://www.amazon.com/Calvin-Hobbes-Sunday-Pages-1985-1995/dp/0740721356 http://www.amazon.com/Calvin-Hobbes-Sunday-Pages-1985-1995/d...
telemachos 17y ago
I think you are misreading profound shyness and discomfort at being in the public eye for something else. I may be wrong, but I don't see pity or lack of respect for his fans in his (few) interviews, but rather fear at the intensity of the fans. This isn't so unusual. Some (many?) creative people love and desire the attention that fame brings, but others simply freak out (Salinger, Pynchon, Glenn Gould, Watterson - if I'm right). Quick follow-up: it's linked on this thread, but a different interview (Watterson responding to fan questions) gives a much more laid-back vibe: http://www.andrewsmcmeel.com/calvinandhobbes/interview.html http://www.andrewsmcmeel.com/calvinandhobbes/interview.html So maybe part of the problem is how poor the new interview's questions are.
- mechanical_fish 17y ago
  He should be afraid. I've said it before: One of the hardest things to learn about fame is that it is a cost of doing business. It can kill you. Maybe it will kill you with stress. Or maybe it will kill you by withdrawal: People who are addicted to the charge of being famous become clinically depressed when that charge ebbs, or when they acclimate to it. Just look at what fame has done to so many movie stars and musicians. One of the great things about geeky hobbies is that most of them allow you to become modestly famous, but no more.
  - electromagnetic 17y ago
    > It can kill you. Maybe it will kill you with stress. Or maybe it will kill you by withdrawal[.] Or maybe it'll be a psycho stalker fan who shoots you in the back four times after following you around for months. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lennon#Murder http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lennon#Murder
hernan7 17y ago
I agree that Watterson is not very fan-friendly on his comments and interviews. (Not to mention his constant diatribes against his publisher.) On the other hand, the interviewer here only asks "pushy fan" questions, so it's not surprising that the only thing we get from Watterson is his usual "humble bordering on misanthropic" schtick. A pity, really, could have been a much better interview. I guess we'll never get to the bottom of the real causes of that spaghetti incident...
- ableal 17y ago
  Not totally unlike, then, to the "prawn incident" in P.G.Wodehouse stories - I believe he teased his readers a few times about it, but never came across ... P.S. in my corner of Europe, there was a newspaper reprinting C&H until a couple of years ago ...
SwellJoe 17y ago
Obviously, his attitude/philosophy towards C&H hasn't changed much in the past 15 years. It's almost like he pities his legions of fans for digging the strip so much. When ever I read the interviews from years ago or even some of the strip commentary, I feel like Watterson's just got a giant chip on his shoulder and I kinda want to hate the guy. I don't understand this perspective, at all. I've never gotten that impression from any interview I've ever read, including this one. He seems humble, genuine, and sincere in his desire to live a quiet life. I like him all the more for not being defined by fame and success, and not partaking to excess of the adulation of his fans, as many celebrities do. He lets the work speak for itself; and the work is good enough to speak very loudly.
iamwil 17y ago
I use to draw a comic strip in college and studied his strips to learn to do my own. His Tenth Anniversary book for C&H was really helpful for insights into his creativity, as he captions his comic strips and what he was thinking at the time. http://books.google.com/books?id=xtiMQXCLdJEC&pg=PA19&lpg=PA19&dq=watterson+looks+remarkably+like+goofing+off&source=bl&ots=UWf5kLlEaO&sig=uDx-bl3Y7e31OhyWQBa0zUGdZrs&hl=en&ei=CyhnS4T-E43etgOUmq2dAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAcQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=&f=false http://books.google.com/books?id=xtiMQXCLdJEC&pg=PA19&#3... Mainly, he values being mentally curious. In the link I put above, he basically let his mind wander. He daydreams, and managed to cultivate that into a skill. When I was doing a strip, you just kinda get into a habit of noticing things in our world that don't fit quite right. And then you just kinda amuse yourself by letting your mind wander. At the end, you might end up with something. By comparison, it like how entrepreneurs notice business opportunities all around them by habit.

by bgraves 17y ago

sp332 17y ago

He was really put off by the publicity and loss of privacy when the strip got really popular. Rumor has it he paints landscapes and then burns them. http://quazen.com/arts/animation/bill-watterson-and-calvin-and-hobbes/ http://quazen.com/arts/animation/bill-watterson-and-calvin-a...

deleted 17y ago
[deleted]
jamesbritt 17y ago
He's our Salinger.

mquander 17y ago

I haven't read his prior interviews, but I must say, I took away none of that from this one. He seems to display an appropriate humility about his art: "Readers will always decide if the work is meaningful and relevant to them, and I can live with whatever conclusion they come to...I'm proud of the strip, enormously grateful for its success, and truly flattered that people still read it." Although we all hope for some kind of tremendous story of revelation and inspiration and toil behind meaningful art, I don't think you can really fault him just because he doesn't have one ready to offer.

bgraves 17y ago
There's a great C&H collection with tons of commentary [1]. He does talk about the creative process a bit and how he loathes certain aspects of the newspaper industry. I find it all very fascinating and could probably watch an entire documentary series on this guy and what he went through during his career. [1] http://books.google.com/books?id=xtiMQXCLdJEC&lpg=PP1&dq=isbn%3A0836204387&pg=PA6#v=onepage&q=&f=false http://books.google.com/books?id=xtiMQXCLdJEC&lpg=PP1&#3...
- mquander 17y ago
  Thank you very much for digging that up. It's an interesting piece of background.
  - bgraves 17y ago
    You are welcome. I just stumbled across this collection from WikiQuotes; very much worth a browsing (if you've read C&H). http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bill_Watterson http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bill_Watterson
- deleted 17y ago
  [deleted]
- albertsun 17y ago
  I read and re-read this book probably 100 times. It's really amazing. There's another collection of Sunday strips that has some commentary and the original sketches of the comic too that I really liked. http://www.amazon.com/Calvin-Hobbes-Sunday-Pages-1985-1995/dp/0740721356 http://www.amazon.com/Calvin-Hobbes-Sunday-Pages-1985-1995/d...

telemachos 17y ago

I think you are misreading profound shyness and discomfort at being in the public eye for something else. I may be wrong, but I don't see pity or lack of respect for his fans in his (few) interviews, but rather fear at the intensity of the fans. This isn't so unusual. Some (many?) creative people love and desire the attention that fame brings, but others simply freak out (Salinger, Pynchon, Glenn Gould, Watterson - if I'm right). Quick follow-up: it's linked on this thread, but a different interview (Watterson responding to fan questions) gives a much more laid-back vibe: http://www.andrewsmcmeel.com/calvinandhobbes/interview.html http://www.andrewsmcmeel.com/calvinandhobbes/interview.html So maybe part of the problem is how poor the new interview's questions are.

mechanical_fish 17y ago
He should be afraid. I've said it before: One of the hardest things to learn about fame is that it is a cost of doing business. It can kill you. Maybe it will kill you with stress. Or maybe it will kill you by withdrawal: People who are addicted to the charge of being famous become clinically depressed when that charge ebbs, or when they acclimate to it. Just look at what fame has done to so many movie stars and musicians. One of the great things about geeky hobbies is that most of them allow you to become modestly famous, but no more.
- electromagnetic 17y ago
  > It can kill you. Maybe it will kill you with stress. Or maybe it will kill you by withdrawal[.] Or maybe it'll be a psycho stalker fan who shoots you in the back four times after following you around for months. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lennon#Murder http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lennon#Murder

hernan7 17y ago

I agree that Watterson is not very fan-friendly on his comments and interviews. (Not to mention his constant diatribes against his publisher.) On the other hand, the interviewer here only asks "pushy fan" questions, so it's not surprising that the only thing we get from Watterson is his usual "humble bordering on misanthropic" schtick. A pity, really, could have been a much better interview. I guess we'll never get to the bottom of the real causes of that spaghetti incident...

ableal 17y ago
Not totally unlike, then, to the "prawn incident" in P.G.Wodehouse stories - I believe he teased his readers a few times about it, but never came across ... P.S. in my corner of Europe, there was a newspaper reprinting C&H until a couple of years ago ...

SwellJoe 17y ago

Obviously, his attitude/philosophy towards C&H hasn't changed much in the past 15 years. It's almost like he pities his legions of fans for digging the strip so much. When ever I read the interviews from years ago or even some of the strip commentary, I feel like Watterson's just got a giant chip on his shoulder and I kinda want to hate the guy. I don't understand this perspective, at all. I've never gotten that impression from any interview I've ever read, including this one. He seems humble, genuine, and sincere in his desire to live a quiet life. I like him all the more for not being defined by fame and success, and not partaking to excess of the adulation of his fans, as many celebrities do. He lets the work speak for itself; and the work is good enough to speak very loudly.

iamwil 17y ago

I use to draw a comic strip in college and studied his strips to learn to do my own. His Tenth Anniversary book for C&H was really helpful for insights into his creativity, as he captions his comic strips and what he was thinking at the time. http://books.google.com/books?id=xtiMQXCLdJEC&pg=PA19&lpg=PA19&dq=watterson+looks+remarkably+like+goofing+off&source=bl&ots=UWf5kLlEaO&sig=uDx-bl3Y7e31OhyWQBa0zUGdZrs&hl=en&ei=CyhnS4T-E43etgOUmq2dAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAcQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=&f=false http://books.google.com/books?id=xtiMQXCLdJEC&pg=PA19&#3... Mainly, he values being mentally curious. In the link I put above, he basically let his mind wander. He daydreams, and managed to cultivate that into a skill. When I was doing a strip, you just kinda get into a habit of noticing things in our world that don't fit quite right. And then you just kinda amuse yourself by letting your mind wander. At the end, you might end up with something. By comparison, it like how entrepreneurs notice business opportunities all around them by habit.