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Calvin and Hobbes and the price of integrity
- recursivedoubts 4mo agoReminds me of why the lucky stiff for some reason...
- aBioGuy 4mo agoAnother anecdote (where it came from I do not remember) stuck in my brain was that Watterson's editor called him one day to tell him that STEVEN SPIELBERG was on the phone to talk with him about a Calvin and Hobbes movie. Watterson refused to take the call.
- jameskilton 4mo agoOr how he was mailed a box of Calvin and Hobbes plushies to try to get sign-off on the quality of the toys. He mailed back a picture of the box on fire. IMO Calvin and Hobbes will always be special because of Watterson's integrity. It says everything it needed to say, and those comics will almost always be relevant.
- all2 4mo agoThe danger of "more" is that it dilutes the purpose and voice of the original. "Cowboy Bebop" fits in this same realm, I think. It had a single season. They did a movie. They said everything they needed to say and left it at that.
- hiccuphippo 4mo agoAnd I guess the live action remake of Cowboy Bebop is the box on fire in this analogy?
- all2 4mo agoI think so, yes. I didn't hear great things about that. Eventually I'll probably watch it. But also maybe not.
- neogodless 4mo agoI watched a few episodes of it. It wasn't so bad that I couldn't wait to stop watching it but... it wasn't good enough that I couldn't help but finish it. I still want to finish it...
- rbanffy 4mo agoI actually like it better, but it’s because I prefer live action over animation.
- annzabelle 4mo agoFirefly is an interesting example of that. If it had not been cancelled so quickly, would anybody remember it these days? A lot of shows start out strong and then completely fall apart.
- gnabgib 4mo agoThe show that happened before your fourth birthday? That is interesting https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48563354 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48563354
- wincy 4mo agoSo instead we ended up with the only Calvin and Hobbes items in the physical world being those vinyl bumper stickers of Calvin pissing on things, because those were cheap and easy for random unscrupulous printers to make. Some artistic vision. As someone born in the late 80s, I recall seeing those far more than the actual comics.
- jjulius 4mo ago>So instead we ended up with the only Calvin and Hobbes items in the physical world being those vinyl bumper stickers of Calvin pissing on things... ... and, of course, all of the various collections of the comics in print form, up to and including the full box set, that everyone can check out from libraries or purchase and keep in perpetuity. Ya know, the actual thing, the meat of it, the heart, the soul - not tangential merchandise. >Some artistic vision. Talk about completely missing the point.
- pseudalopex 4mo agoWatterson said It was only my head that burst into flames.[1] [1] https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/53216/mental-floss-exclusive-our-interview-bill-watterson https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/53216/mental-floss-exclu...
- dgritsko 4mo agoWhat a brilliantly written piece. Maintaining one's integrity is unfortunately rare enough that it makes Watterson's story so remarkable. I completely respect and admire his dedication to doing something for its own sake, for holding himself to the highest standards imaginable, and from walking away from it all for his own reasons - even if selfishly I'd rather him keep writing so that there would be more to enjoy. Time to go pull some old volumes of Calvin & Hobbes off the shelf for the hundredth time, I suppose.
- all2 4mo agoI have so much nostalgia for Watterson's work. I occasionally will buy another of the hard bound 3 volume set. I always wind up giving them away and then buying another. A worthy cause, I hope.
- rbanffy 4mo agoIt makes everybody’s day a little bit more surreal. Certainly a worthy cause.
- lproven 4mo agoFor those who do not know, this comment is itself a C&H reference. https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1986/09/27 https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1986/09/27 https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2F46b0nz2vsv061.jpg https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2F4...
- rbanffy 4mo agoGood to see you here, Liam. This is why I love this community.
- smithkl42 4mo agoI'm waiting until my kids are out of the house (just a couple of years now) to repurchase the 3-volume set. The first purchase didn't survive my kids' childhood - which, yes, I think Watterson would have approved.
- CM30 4mo agoHave to say, I've always admired Watterson's determination to keep Calvin and Hobbes a comic strip and not compromise on its vision for money/fame. As the article itself points out, it would have been very easy for it to become the next Peanuts or Garfield, and most artists probably would have taken that route the minute it became available. Heck, given the obsession with side hustles and grifting and get rich quick schemes, I don't think I could see any present day comic creator (or creator in general) making that sort of decision. But yeah, it's admirable. Especially given how the average comic strip runs for decades on end with less and less humour or charm until its eventual cancelation.
- Cider9986 4mo agoThis is really well written, which is refreshing with all the AI. Past: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32116184 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32116184 Bill Watterson’s refusal to license Calvin and Hobbes (2016) 464 points July 16, 2022 311 comments More on Calvin and Hobbes: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=calvin&sort=byPopularity&type=story https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...
- Tyr42 4mo agoMan, I always wonder what would have happened if Bill Watterson had been around for the era of webcomics. Much more creative freedom, and no editor or syndicate to tell you how to layout your panels. Would he have loved it? Or would he have hated it? He certainly wouldn't have wanted to build a website for it.
- blt 4mo agoFor me, it's hard to imagine him giving up the printed newspaper strip's connection to the physical world. Calvin and Hobbes is filled with references to the basic elements of physical reality: dirt, rocks, water, snow, speed, collisions, temperature, light, sound. Webcomics exist in a world of pure information.
- card_zero 4mo agoWebcomics exist in the physical world because they appear on screens, which are just as physical as paper. Neither newspapers nor screens usually come into contact with dirt, rocks, water, snow, or collisions. Newspapers make more noise than screens, but screens emit more light. Printed cartoons exist as pure information too, in the sense that they can be copied and printed on different things.
- InitialLastName 4mo agoHe's had more than 2 decades to reject that opportunity.
- bena 4mo agoYeah. He's not dead. He could have gone into webcomics if he had wanted.
- hylaride 4mo agoI think he's a product of his time (pre-internet). He stopped because he felt he hit the limits of what he could create, and while a large part of it was the restrictions the newspapers put on him, it was also that he was running out of ideas. It's something he's specifically said in his very rare interviews, and he seems to enjoy living a very quiet life. While webcomics are thriving, they don't quite have the same cultural impact that every kid growing up had for a few decades where the newspaper would be out on the kitchen table and the kids would nosedive for the comics. When I think about it, it was a brilliant move for newspapers. As I got older and closer to being an adult, I started reading the rest of the paper. There were several excellent comics, but only C&H has stood the test of time and I am so proud that my 8 year old daughter recently pulled down the books are started getting lost in them. Sometimes the restrictions and limitations produce creativity in their own right, and I often wonder if something like C&H could even make it in today's cultural environment (both from a political point of view and in the modern social media landscape).
- hyperhello 4mo ago> I show two versions of reality, and each makes complete sense to the participant who sees it. I think that’s how life works. Not to spoil a beautiful joke by explaining it, but all of the strips are based on this. Two characters see things differently. Sometimes it’s because Calvin is in the grip of his (psychosis|childhood) and sometimes it’s a totally ex machina Watterson idea that they’re exploring, but there’s always two worlds colliding hilariously. I have no idea if a truly competent director could catch lightning in a bottle. The movie Fight Club has been correctly compared to Calvin and Hobbes. There’s no way for stuffed toys to capture this at all. Good for Watterson for allowing his genius not to be trampled.
- rapind 4mo ago> The movie Fight Club has been correctly compared to Calvin and Hobbes. Bit of a tangent, but I recently watched Fight Club with my son. He was surprised he liked it because he'd gotten the impression it was a dog whistle for manosphere spazzes. I was like "exactly, Matrix is actually good too...".
- Yeask 4mo ago[dead]
- tanseydavid 4mo ago> the impression it was a dog whistle for manosphere spazzes Everyone thinks this until they see the movie or read the book.
- FatherOfCurses 4mo ago"A few weeks later, the project is finished. Watterson probably takes a moment to stand in the middle of the room and look up, contemplating the months of work, the tins of paint he went through, the things he learned about technique, about the joy of a job done for its own sake, about himself. Then he opens a tin of whitewash, climbs up the bed-chairs-table one last time, and paints over his work. He leaves the ceiling white, empty, fresh." Is it Zen where they do this with mandalas? The monks spend forever building intricate sand paintings and then wipe/blow them away in an instant. Love it. I wish I could explain why, but this is the C+H comic I think of the most: https://i0.wp.com/www.thedockchurch.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/IMG_8113.jpg https://i0.wp.com/www.thedockchurch.org/blog/wp-content/uplo...
- helterskelter 4mo agoI believe those are the Tibetan Buddhists.
- CamperBob2 4mo agoAnd boy, do they get sore when some tourists' kid runs through the sand, Calvin-like, the day before the big ceremony.
- ToucanLoucan 4mo agoA lot of artists do this a lot of times. Especially work that pushes your boundaries is often not of the best quality, not suited for release. We finish it, we enjoy it, we share it perhaps with a small group of friends, and then it goes in the bin. It's just the way of it, and why I'm so skeptical of so many social media influencers who create stuff but the creation of that stuff becomes the media of their particular medium, not the thing they're meant to be making. Like game developers who post a lot about whatever game they're making, and get such engagement that the thing they're making and the quality of it almost takes a back seat to simply continuing the work for the sake of documenting it and posting about it. It's also why despite using AI for work and for occasional brainstorming, it never, ever will find it's way into my actual artistic processes and works. The friction of creating is the point of creating, and where AI removes that friction, it renders the product pointless. An AI image feels empty precisely because there were, by definition, no long nights spent with it, no difficult to solve problems, no taste to reckon with: it was simply made with precision and perfection by a machine being told what to make. An achievement certainly, but not a human one.
- randallsquared 4mo ago> It looked like the syndicate’s warnings to Watterson were well-founded: Calvin and Hobbes was threatened with widespread cancellation. Oh, that sounds bad. > It says something about the popularity of Calvin and Hobbes — not to mention Watterson’s pulling power as a cartoonist — that after all the outrage and arguments, only fifteen of the 1,800 papers running Watterson’s strip threatened to remove it from their pages. And only seven followed through. What. This directly contradicts the first statement, does it not?
- bryanrasmussen 4mo agoI think the first threatened is from groups like moral majority or similar threatening we will get your papers to remove it, and then the second is the actual papers making the threat based on threats from moral watchdog groups. Anyway that is my interpretation of what happened.
- duskwuff 4mo agoThe threatened cancellation was over Watterson demanding an unmodifiable half-page for his Sunday strips, not over the content of his strips.
- bryanrasmussen 4mo agoah sorry I had it confused in my mind with Berkley Breathed, should have read article first but I saw the cancellation thing and I thought oh yeah I remember that.
- bluGill 4mo agoRemember his strip was popular enough that papers didn't have a choice. People were buying newspapers to get the latest Calvin and Hobbes. They may not like what he did but he had the power. Most cartoonists people read and sometimes laugh but if they get replaced nobody will care.
- toss1 4mo ago>>This directly contradicts the first statement, does it not? It does not. The former was threats in the before times, the latter was the lackluster result after the dust had settled.
- philipallstar 4mo agoThere's no art that can be stopped. You only need to convince someone else to print it if you want money.
- alsetmusic 4mo agoThis is one of the reasons I have Stupendous Man on my forearm. It's the version of him running into his classroom on the back of one of the books (arms flexing triumphantly), only I had that artist style the costume based on how he appears in Calvin's imagination. I can't imagine getting Garfield or Snoopy on my skin. CnH was massively important to me growing up. It had so much meaning. I also remember Watterson writing, in the CnH retrospective anthology (on the topic of Moe, the school bully), that he didn't identify with people who were nostalgic for childhood because he remembered it being a very difficult time. Poignant and true. Edit: Btw, CnH lovers: See new book The Mysteries https://news.ycombinator.com/edit?id=48560976 https://news.ycombinator.com/edit?id=48560976
- aqfamnzc 4mo agoYou have linked to your own comment.
- alsetmusic 4mo agoHa! What the eff. I don't know how that happened. Too late to edit. https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Mysteries/Bill-Watterson/9781524884949 https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Mysteries/Bill-Wa...
- biophysboy 4mo agoThats very interesting to me that Watterson remembers his childhood as a difficult time. Calvin’s moments of sadness/anxiety/anger are a big part of why I found those comics so relatable and endearing as a kid.
- apparent 4mo agoThe last Calvin and Hobbes strip [1]. 1: https://www.reddit.com/r/calvinandhobbes/comments/6pig9h/honestly_knowing_this_one_was_the_last_calvin_and/#lightbox https://www.reddit.com/r/calvinandhobbes/comments/6pig9h/hon...
- awbvious 4mo agoQuestion: Imagine it is right after Watterson stopped working with Universal Press Syndicate and making Calvin and Hobbes. You know someone who can get you in touch with Watterson. What do you do? I ask because I humbly think the closest we have in the last 30 years to Watterson is Shen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shen_(cartoonist) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shen_(cartoonist) . So much of what he did mirrors Watterson. More specifically, so much of his evolution mirrors Watterson. He clearly had a style that was working, but he evolved and it worked (not everyone evolves and it works, Matthew Inman comes to mind--still does great stuff, his new style just doesn't resonate with me personally, could just be me). I mean, it's not a one-for-one comparison, Shen has a plushie, for example (not much else). But there's a spirit there that I feel resonates with people deeply. He recently left Webtoon and his 3x-a-week Blue Chair. I wrote him an email that he responded to, which is how I know if someone has a good response here, I can probably get it to him. I mention in my email Smol Web (aka Small Web, other names as well, heavily mentioned here on Hacker News) and he said "I like the principles in it." But I get the impression he still feels he must pay fealty to the social media gods (relevant The Oatmeal https://theoatmeal.com/comics/reaching_people https://theoatmeal.com/comics/reaching_people ) and everything else is secondary. the tricky part is creating something that will pay the bills. If anyone wants to lend him a hand in that, let me know and I'll pass it on. Like, how /does/ do Small Web and make money? Here's nearly all of my email to him, if you are curious. One of the things I hated was that during Shen's tenure at Webtoon they got more and more hostile to users browsing without using their app. I don't know if it figured into his leaving, or even if it was 100% his decision, but I do rant a bit about it. I also mention "We Go Forward." That is referenced in the Wikipedia article. Sadly, can't link to it without linking to a social media site. --- Anyway, Webtoon's loss. They went public, they thought that meant they should act like Big Tech and force people into apps. Presumably to harvest all that data, make all their users the product, and sell that data to data brokers. They then wipe their hands of what happenns [sic] as that data is sold to surveillance states or worse. Of course, it's all predicated on the fact they can act as monopolies, following the Peter Thiel handbook. But assuming they could even become the next Meta or Alphabet going the way they did, regardless that the very ickiness of it should repulse one, is just hubris. Maybe they thought the app numbers, and the app data it would mean, would be enough to merger into a Meta or Alphabet. But you can't get there by simply forcing users bluntly and harshly. Forcing users is a late-stage Meta or Alphabet move, and it never starts blunt or harsh. I see nothing wrong with them going public, per se, provided they can convince the shareholders to not be short-sighted. But I don't think they could, thus, it probably was wrong to do a traditional IPO. Shareholders want "growth" at all costs. So they will hinge on app downloads and engagement numbers with every earnings report. And so the stock price will hinge on those numbers, to the point where unless the stock price is unrelated to decision making--e.g. a non-voting arrangement for retail buyers like Zuck got--stupid decisions will be made. If not by the original company, by the "activist investment company" that buys all the shares and makes the same stupid decisions. Assuming the activist investor doesn't just turn it private again and vampires the equity. Yes, they right now should have an app. But a simple browser wrapper app for those younger people who think everything should be an app. The core product should support browser viewing first. At least at first. Then assuming there's enough moat (which there definitely isn't yet) it's a question of morals, do you stay on that path, or do start to force people to the app little by little? Hobbling this or that. You don't go to "can't view this webcomic except in the app" right away. That's definitely a much later Darth Vader move which, again, no one should do (but if you're Zuck, you will do anyway). I'll be glad to see you go somewhere new. Have your own site! Use federated social media! Realize there are fans who remember We Go Forward when it came out! You know, over twenty years ago, I spent two weeks on a web comic [removed, just in case it goes afoul of this Guideline "Please don't use HN primarily for promotion. It's ok to post your own stuff part of the time, but the primary use of the site should be for curiosity." This comment is about Shen after all]. I should have Gone Forward. I gave up. It had such charm in retrospect. Good for you! Keep at it! Web comics are genius, you never have to worry about handling large data or keeping systems secure. You just make a cool .png and throw it on a smol site. (Look up smol web as a concept, Smol Ghost would approve.) "Don't stop" is what someone wrote to me once, and it meant a lot. The beauty of what you do is you /can/ Go Forward and not have to leave others behind. I think it's time for a reboot of that original comic. Like how they made a Diablo II remake with better graphics and toggles to go between old and new. You could start out new version of Go Forward with fancy graphics, then show a settings screen, toggle to old. Toggle back to new (people will get what's going on). Go all the way to the end and switch back to old. Then do some speed-runner type thing involving jumping on hidden objects and make the parents' house show up on the same screen and they can cheer him on to the end. Don't stop, awbvious
- tombert 4mo agoI think about Bill Waterson a lot. I certainly don't blame Jim Davis for "selling out". He made a marketable character, and I don't blame him for trying to make his money because of it. I don't have a ton of artistic talent but if I created a lovable comic character and someone offered me a dumptruck full of money to sell toys and t-shirts and cartoons, I'm pretty sure I would take it, and I might even take it even if I felt like it diminished my vision of the comic. I would like to think I have integrity, and I think I do to some extent (there are certain types of companies I will not work for e.g. casinos), but Waterson is on another level. And I have to say, it has made Calvin and Hobbes age a lot better for me. Garfield is almost more of a "brand" than a comic at this point, and it has made it such that I find the character and even the comics kind of (for want of a better word) "cheap" or "tacky". The same can be said for Dilbert (Scott Adams himself not withstanding...I used to genuinely like the comics). C&H, on the other hand, reads about as well now as it did when I was a kid. The jokes still work, the art is appealing, and since there hasn't been this mass-marketing push for it, it has retained a purity unlike anything else. I don't have the integrity or will power that Bill Waterson has, and I probably never will, but it can be something I strive to have some day.
- kemayo 4mo agoThere's this quote from the 2010 interview with Waterson: > If I had rolled along with the strip's popularity and repeated myself for another five, ten, or twenty years, the people now "grieving" for Calvin and Hobbes would be wishing me dead and cursing newspapers for running tedious, ancient strips like mine instead of acquiring fresher, livelier talent. And I'd be agreeing with them.
- dmurray 4mo agoBut don't we all feel sure he could have rolled along for three or two or one more year? Surely it's not like his creativity ran out suddenly on Jan 1 1996 and he had no more comic strips in him. And it's not like the quality of the strips had started a slow decline, so... couldn't we have got one more year of cartoons? I'm kidding really. Bill Watterson doesn't owe us anything; if he was no longer enjoying creating the comics, why should we get to enjoy reading them? And we'd just have the same complaint if he quit after eleven years instead of ten, or worse, we'd be saying how the last couple of years it was clear his heart wasn't in it.
- mrhottakes 4mo agoWhat an excellent piece. Watterson is one of the greats and I have the utmost respect for people that do things because they enjoy it.
- slowhadoken 4mo agoSometimes things are black and white. The syndicate needs people like Watterson and without them they’re broke. The Cartoon Network fell apart not heeding this law and its great artists continue on.
- cogogo 4mo agoGreat piece but definitely makes me even more annoyed by the obviously bootleg Calvin pissing stickers on pickups. And even further annoyed that my kids will never know the joy of a quality broadsheet newspaper, especially on Sunday.
- krupan 4mo agoAw man, you just hit me with a wave of nostalgia. Looking back, the Sunday comics were such an indulgence! To just sit on the floor with huge sheets of paper covered in colorful illustrated jokes and enjoy each one slowly. I need to take time like that each week again.
- andrepd 4mo agoAbsolutely incredible writing! Loved every word.
- ChrisMarshallNY 4mo agoI think I remember reading this, some time back. Watterson had (still has) a great deal of Personal Integrity. I dig Personal Integrity. People like him, are kind of mythic heroes, to me.
- NKosmatos 4mo agoVery well written! Now let’s wait to see what happens with the rights to Calvin and Hobbes when Waterson is not around. I’m sure we’ll see a reboot/re-run with merchandise, series and perhaps a movie, when the heirs take the rights.
- jjulius 4mo agoKnowing Watterson, I'd wager he's taken certain paths to prevent this from happening.
- prmoustache 4mo agoI don't think he has the power to do anything. Look at what happened to Frida Kalho. Her face has sadly become a synonymous for cheap stuff sold anywhere.
- goolz 4mo agoDang man, C & H taught me so much as a young lad. Unconditional love, amor fati, the importance of being yourself. I think the way he left it all was perfect. We were robbed of future delights but in the end it could not have been more in character. I hope Mr. Watterson is enjoying his final sebatical.
- jeronimobomfim 4mo agoI once posted Bill Watterson's speech to the 1990 graduating class of his alma mater, but it never got to the front pages. I think I tried posting it again, no go. I just made this account so I can try it a third time. More than any comment I could write to some HN post, I wished people would click on the link and read it. Here's hoping some of you will do it, before it's wiped out from the net: https://web.mit.edu/jmorzins/www/C-H-speech.html https://web.mit.edu/jmorzins/www/C-H-speech.html
- bear8642 4mo agoThanks for sharing that!
- LandoCalrissian 4mo agoThat is a wonderful speech, I have never read it before. Thank you for sharing.
- frollogaston 4mo agoGreat speech. I appreciate how he talked about not selling out, but only after he described how tough it is to earn money in the real world. Especially because Kenyon is one of those places you would hear "I don't care about money" from people who already got it the easy way. A quote that stood out: "Selling out is usually more a matter of buying in. Sell out, and you're really buying into someone else's system of values, rules and rewards."
- Folcon 4mo ago> A quote that stood out: "Selling out is usually more a matter of buying in. Sell out, and you're really buying into someone else's system of values, rules and rewards." This quote more than ever seems like taking the road less travelled by in this day and age
- smallerize 4mo agohttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38751452 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38751452
- 4mo ago
- everyone 4mo agoI saw this video recently, about Bill Waterson and 'Robotman' https://youtu.be/gP01pIB99ws?si=rnUOUom_MRYQcPkP https://youtu.be/gP01pIB99ws?si=rnUOUom_MRYQcPkP
- WalterBright 4mo agoI'm always amazed at how a cartoonist can turn out 6 cartoons a week, every week, every month, every year.
- rbanffy 4mo agoI can safely say the three biggest influences in my teens were Carl Sagan’s Cosmos, The Muppet Show, and Calvin and Hobbes. Sagan ignited my passion for learning and made me realise I a rare ability to understand complicated things visually. The Muppets taught me that nothing in life should be beyond ridicule, and that I should be the first one to laugh at myself, and to never be afraid to do stupid things. Also that a touch of surrealism is key to a healthy life. Calvin gave me a sense of belonging, and made me realise I was not as weird as I originally thought. If people enough like it to the point newspapers publish the strips, I would not be alone. The final strip really hit me hard. I miss those two.
- frollogaston 4mo ago"licensing usually cheapens the original creation by saturating a market with characters until readers are bored of seeing them" makes the most sense to me out of this. When I think of Shrek, I don't even think of the movies, I think of all the random stuff like Burger King that licensed it. Also, now that I've read this, I'm kinda sad about the bootleg peeing Calvin truck decal.
- bronson 4mo ago> Owing to spite or just a foul mood, have you ever peeled one of those stupid Calvin stickers off of a pickup truck? I figure that, long after the strip is forgotten, those decals are my ticket to immortality. (from the Mentalfloss article linked a few comments down)
- PaulHoule 4mo agoHate to advocate for the devil but, as somebody involved in fanart, people want objects for the media properties they love and if they can't get them legitimately they will make their own or get them from somebody who didn't license the property. And if Waterson didn't spend his own time and money sicing lawyers on the latter his syndicate wasn't going to do it for him if he didn't license it.
- CamperBob2 4mo agoThen there's the fact that anyone who wants more C&H comics can now just ask for them. I hate to think about how Watterson will feel the first time he sees that happen.
- krupan 4mo agoYou are correct. Also, copyrights do expire eventually (takes longer than it should, but they still aren't perpetual)
- pantsforbirds 4mo agoI would have loved to buy my children some small C&H figurines or, especially, a stuffed tiger, but I do respect Waterson's decision
- srvmshr 4mo agoCalvin & Hobbes have always been such a joy. In childhood, it was a reflection of all the naughtiness you could come up with. As a middle aged adult today, I look at the bigger meanings of those simple adventures. Reading a few stories is a reminder that happiness could be found in simple things & vivid imaginations. Bill Watterson's dedication to not commercialize it preserves the charm about 'simple life, simple joys' of our childhood. He could have raked in the money, but his integrity is admirable. It isn't easy to be in his position & make such difficult choices to preserve the ethos of his art.
- dhosek 4mo agoI model my parenting style on Calvin’s dad. I actually had almost the identical conversation with my kids about why old pictures are in black and white. When they were in fourth grade my daughter came home from school angry at me about having let her and her brother believe for four years that the world used to be in black and white. They haven’t brought up bridges and weight limits yet so I can only assume they still believe that.
- conartist6 4mo agoThat last truck really shows off the engineering work
- megaloblasto 4mo ago[flagged]
- nargek 4mo agoDon't ever joke or trick your kids, they might develop a sense of humor
- reddalo 4mo agoOne thing is letting them develop a sense of humor; another thing is lying to them when they're clearly not able to distinguish between a lie and the truth.
- krupan 4mo agoI've pondered on this my whole adult life. Are we doing kids wrong with things like Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, fairy tales, tall tales, etc.? I think not. I think kids come up with their own childish and wrong explanations for things on their own, whether or not other kids, parents, relatives tell them the world was black and white until the late 1950's or that Santa delivers presents down the chimney. Part of growing up is learning to question those childhood ideas and beliefs (misunderstandings) and move past them. And really, it's something that shouldn't stop with childhood beliefs. There are a lot problems we have as adults because of stories we have been told and stories we tell ourselves that are not true.
- forgatmachine 4mo agothank you for sharing this. It was a lovely read!
- bandrami 4mo agoThis reminds me of an old piece I really love about Fred Rogers, who faced many of the same pressures with exactly the same integrity: https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a27134/can-you-say-hero-esq1198/ https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a27134/can-you-say-...
- jdblair 4mo agoWhen I was quite young I attended a lecture by Bill Watterson held at the Akron Art Museum. He spoke without notes, with an easel and a large pad of paper, describing his career. He illustrated his story with the pad, drawing his unsuccessful characters (I remember one looked like a short Hobbes) as he told his story about how he created Calvin and Hobbes. I was really struck by how much Watterson looked like Calvin's dad. I stayed after the end of the lecture hoping that he would give me one of his drawings. He politely declined. As I recall, he said he had to be very careful about how his work was distributed. I don't know if this was b/c of his contract with the syndicate, or b/c he was already thinking about the legacy of the strip.
- shantnutiwari 4mo agoI dont know. I would have loved to buy a calvin t shirt or a hobbes toy for my son. All this means is: Calvin and Hobbes will die out, as hardly anyone in the new generation (kids born in 2000s) know about this comic. I can understand the art vs commercialism debate, but this is going too far in the other direction. And before people start lecturing me: Yes I know some corproations are evil. Tintin's new owners didnt allow the original country Belgium to host a Tintin event because they wanted more money. Corporate greed can totally kill art; but this is the other extreme, and will also lead to a slow death by people just forgetting about it
- krupan 4mo agoGreat works get shared and passed on to others, even without T-shirts and stuffies. Also, the copyright will expire at some point.
- jurgenaut23 4mo agoI didn’t know Calvin and Hobbes so well until recently. My wife recently got me the integral of Calvin and Hobbes and I read it in full in a few weeks. What a masterpiece! What struck me the most is the magical balance between humor, philosophical tale, and ode to childhood. I have two kids and it helped me numerous time approaching their silliness in a more constructive and patient way.
- krupan 4mo agoSome interesting discussion here about Bill Watterson and Jim Davis and it makes me wonder about this word, "integrity," that's being used. In my mind, integrity is to be honest and to do what you promise to do (unless we are talking about physical structures, which we aren't here, are we?). When an artist "sells out" is that really showing a lack of integrity? I guess it depends on what promises they made to... themselves? To others? What if things have changed since they made those promises? We aren't talking about moral absolutes like "thou shall not kill," here (if even that is an absolute). I feel like "integrity" is possibly the wrong word to use for all this, but as someone who grew up very religious and who strives to maintain his own integrity, I can see why people might use the word here. I think my concern is for when other artists who make different decisions than Bill Watterson are ridiculed for not having integrity, as if they have broken some moral code. They haven't.
- steve_adams_86 4mo agoI agree. Davis intended to do what he did all along. If Watterson deviated and sold the merchandise he would have lacked integrity, sure. But someone like Davis is acting according to their ideals and intentions and so on; there is a lot of integrity present in the matter. People use it to mean “they did something I disagree with” which doesn’t inherently overlap with integrity concerns. I suppose you could argue that art isn’t meant to be commercialized in such a way, and so Davis lacked integrity to the discipline and trade. Some comic artists might say his approach takes away from comic artistry and lacks integrity in that manner. I’m not sure if that’s true or reasonable to say at all. Someone can make a comic for any reason they want as far as I’m concerned. I don’t know what Davis is like personally, but from the outside and looking only at Garfield, it doesn’t appear that he lacked integrity.
- krupan 4mo agoI think I'm taking it a step further even and asking that if Watterson decided that he would never merchandise Calvin and Hobbes and then 10 years later saw things differently and changed his mind, would that be an integrity violation? I don't think so.
- testing22321 4mo ago> Watterson has a recurring dream about his old college where he doesn’t know what class he’s taking or where he’s meant to be. He roams the grounds, growing more flustered with each confused step. Right before he wakes, he thinks, “How many more years until I graduate…? Wait, didn’t I graduate already? How old am I?” I’m 44 and I have this dream every few months about high school and university. Something deep inside.
- chrisgd 4mo agoI think about Bluey a lot in these situations. Fantastic show but because of the contract the Australian entity has sold licensing for everything. I wish they didn’t do sugary foods and a few other items. But it would be hard to turn down generational wealth
- mireg 4mo agoAnother good reason to buy the collection. again.
- NoSalt 4mo agoI, like so many others, LOVE Calvin and Hobbes! I started loving it as a kid, a boy against "the establishment" (a.k.a., parents and school). Today, I am loving it as a parent with a little Calvin of my own running around the house. The wife and I are constantly laughing at how much our son reminds us of Calvin. We try to encourage his imagination as much as we can, and hope it never leaves him. It is absolutely amazing how this one comic can have such an effect on my during two completely different times of my life. Mr. Bill Watterson ... thank you!
- wondergato 4mo agoI highly recommend Bill Watterson's speech at his alma mater. https://web.mit.edu/jmorzins/www/C-H-speech.html https://web.mit.edu/jmorzins/www/C-H-speech.html > Creating a life that reflects your values and satisfies your soul is a rare achievement. In a culture that relentlessly promotes avarice and excess as the good life, a person happy doing his own work is usually considered an eccentric, if not a subversive. Ambition is only understood if it's to rise to the top of some imaginary ladder of success. Someone who takes an undemanding job because it affords him the time to pursue other interests and activities is considered a flake. A person who abandons a career in order to stay home and raise children is considered not to be living up to his potential-as if a job title and salary are the sole measure of human worth. > You'll be told in a hundred ways, some subtle and some not, to keep climbing, and never be satisfied with where you are, who you are, and what you're doing. There are a million ways to sell yourself out, and I guarantee you'll hear about them. > To invent your own life's meaning is not easy, but it's still allowed, and I think you'll be happier for the trouble. > Reading those turgid philosophers here in these remote stone buildings may not get you a job, but if those books have forced you to ask yourself questions about what makes life truthful, purposeful, meaningful, and redeeming, you have the Swiss Army Knife of mental tools, and it's going to come in handy all the time.