4 ms·

The Mysteries by Bill Watterson

65 points by hairofadog 4y ago

tboyd47 4y ago
I'm intrigued... not only did I love Calvin and Hobbes, but the plot sounds really cool.
- rbanffy 4y ago
  I really miss Calvin and Hobbes… I was a lot like him as a kid. Now I try to be his father.
cowmix 4y ago
He's NOT the illustrator of the book. THAT'S interesting.
- ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago
  It could be his name is being used, but he's famous for not going commercial, so I suspect there's more to the story.
- deltarholamda 4y ago
  Watterson is really interesting. Some of his C&H collection books have short essays, and some have original poetry--"Nauseous Nocturne" is great--and of course he wrote all of the strip's dialogs. He's certainly a good writer. The fact that Watterson held firm and never licensed his creation, and also stood up to the newspaper conglomerates to ensure C&H got printed adequately is fascinating. I have a lot of respect for him.
runevault 4y ago
For reference a link to the canadian S&S site was posted last night https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34799976 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34799976
numlocked 4y ago
Amazon has a few more sample pages of text and art: https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1524884944?tag=sscan https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1524884944?tag=sscan... - https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61Bf9EMGwsL.jpg https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61Bf9EMGwsL.jpg - https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/710rEGCuE-L.jpg https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/710rEGCuE-L.jpg - https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71OtBBkSGAL.jpg https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71OtBBkSGAL.jpg - https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71vW6lumrpL.jpg https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71vW6lumrpL.jpg
- tantalor 4y ago
  These pages are already on the linked page, up in the left corner: "LOOK"
robg 4y ago
Love this so much - that a cherished creator can detach for years then drop something they’ve been working on. And likely not a book tour in sight!
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
psiops 4y ago
Do the sample images look kinda ... AI generated to anyone else? This sentence hints at something: "Both artists abandoned their past ways of working, inventing images together that neither could anticipate—a mysterious process in its own right."
- quaffapint 4y ago
  Could be both the text and art that are generated. Weird. If it was closer to April 1, I think I'd understand better what's going on.
  - jerf 4y ago
    Hmmm... you may be on to something there. I certainly can't disprove your theory based on the samples. It's not completely out of spec for what human illustrators sometimes do, but there are some things that seem a bit... odd. https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/710rEGCuE-L.jpg https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/710rEGCuE-L.jpg - the hand in the center of the image seems a bit off, like it was replaced later. https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71vW6lumrpL.jpg https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71vW6lumrpL.jpg - text in the book is suspiciously like what some of the AIs generate, although I don't recall that I've ever seen it projected onto an object quite like that; people who have more experience with it than me care to pipe up? On the other hand, I can't say it's obviously AI either. It's hard to tell when someone who knows what they're doing may also be doing exactly the same analysis I'm doing here, and cleaning up the tells. If you pick up any illustrated book and stare at it hard enough for AI tells, you'll probably find some.
sublinear 4y ago
Who's next? Jeff Keane? Jim Davis?
voisin 4y ago
Dupe: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34799976 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34799976

65 points by hairofadog 4y ago

tboyd47 4y ago

I'm intrigued... not only did I love Calvin and Hobbes, but the plot sounds really cool.

rbanffy 4y ago
I really miss Calvin and Hobbes… I was a lot like him as a kid. Now I try to be his father.

cowmix 4y ago

He's NOT the illustrator of the book. THAT'S interesting.

ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago
It could be his name is being used, but he's famous for not going commercial, so I suspect there's more to the story.
deltarholamda 4y ago
Watterson is really interesting. Some of his C&H collection books have short essays, and some have original poetry--"Nauseous Nocturne" is great--and of course he wrote all of the strip's dialogs. He's certainly a good writer. The fact that Watterson held firm and never licensed his creation, and also stood up to the newspaper conglomerates to ensure C&H got printed adequately is fascinating. I have a lot of respect for him.

runevault 4y ago

For reference a link to the canadian S&S site was posted last night https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34799976 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34799976

numlocked 4y ago

Amazon has a few more sample pages of text and art: https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1524884944?tag=sscan https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1524884944?tag=sscan... - https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61Bf9EMGwsL.jpg https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61Bf9EMGwsL.jpg - https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/710rEGCuE-L.jpg https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/710rEGCuE-L.jpg - https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71OtBBkSGAL.jpg https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71OtBBkSGAL.jpg - https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71vW6lumrpL.jpg https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71vW6lumrpL.jpg

tantalor 4y ago
These pages are already on the linked page, up in the left corner: "LOOK"

robg 4y ago

Love this so much - that a cherished creator can detach for years then drop something they’ve been working on. And likely not a book tour in sight!

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

psiops 4y ago

Do the sample images look kinda ... AI generated to anyone else? This sentence hints at something: "Both artists abandoned their past ways of working, inventing images together that neither could anticipate—a mysterious process in its own right."

quaffapint 4y ago
Could be both the text and art that are generated. Weird. If it was closer to April 1, I think I'd understand better what's going on.
- jerf 4y ago
  Hmmm... you may be on to something there. I certainly can't disprove your theory based on the samples. It's not completely out of spec for what human illustrators sometimes do, but there are some things that seem a bit... odd. https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/710rEGCuE-L.jpg https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/710rEGCuE-L.jpg - the hand in the center of the image seems a bit off, like it was replaced later. https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71vW6lumrpL.jpg https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71vW6lumrpL.jpg - text in the book is suspiciously like what some of the AIs generate, although I don't recall that I've ever seen it projected onto an object quite like that; people who have more experience with it than me care to pipe up? On the other hand, I can't say it's obviously AI either. It's hard to tell when someone who knows what they're doing may also be doing exactly the same analysis I'm doing here, and cleaning up the tells. If you pick up any illustrated book and stare at it hard enough for AI tells, you'll probably find some.

sublinear 4y ago

Who's next? Jeff Keane? Jim Davis?

voisin 4y ago

Dupe: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34799976 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34799976