Talk:Bill Watterson/Archive 1

Archive 1

Details

Watterson published one book where he had the cartoon strips interspersed with commentary about them--kind of a DVD edition, I guess ;-) --and in that one he talks about his battle with his publisher over the format of the Sunday comics, and goes into some detail explaining what that format is and how it constrained him, as well as the protracted fight over it and his eventual victory. I read that when the book first came out and don't have the details with me--can someone who knows them please add them? --KQ

I have that book. It's the tenth anniversary Calvin & Hobbes collection.. I did mention his battles with the publisher... I didn't want to weigh the article down too heavily on those things though so i decided to leave out some of the less important details... ~ Jimmy Lo

Oh, ok then. Maybe you're right; I'm not sure how interesting all that would be for the layman. --KQ

Probably more interesting than you're it giving credit for - Bill saw the writing on the wall concerning copyrights and started a minor revolution about how artists licensed their work to publishers and syndicates. What we see in a lot of the self-published strips on the Internet was influenced by Watterson's actions and opinions. --idiosynchronic, idiosynchronicATGmail.com

A picture of C&H themselves can and should be included. Under copyright law examples of work may be quoted or shown for a reference purposes. Watterston's aversions are well known; but has he specifically asked Wikipedia to not show any image if C&H? Since cartooning is a visual medium, what does it mean to not SHOW it? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 161.80.10.21 (talk) 13:17, 18 February 2010 (UTC)

Pre C&H work?

It would have been great for the article to have an example of his pre-C&H work; i.e. the political cartoons he did for the Cincinnati Post. Have these been published in any sort of collection? I can't recall having seen any of them, ever. Mortene 22:56, 25 Dec 2004 (UTC)

• Here's a great site that purports to have some early work of Watterson's. http://ignatz.brinkster.net/cbillart.html. You can see Watterson's unique style within them.

Post C&H work?

For an example of how Calvin maybe would have turned out look no further than http://sinfest.net by Tatsuya Ishida... Personally I think this fits to a tee what Calvin would be like were he to grow up. Irreverent, criticising faults in others but not seeing his own and having a complex relationship to authority. And don't forget the girl he know he wants but he never can figure out for himself how to get... -- Lindus

I have had the pleasure of corresponding with Mr. Wattersons brother Tom. He used to run with a band in the late 80's and early 90's. He gave me 2 cassette tapes with different art on them both. He said that his brother had done the art under an assumed name, Fang Wampur (I think... I'll have to look at the tapes again). The art is nothing like the comic strips at all. In fact, it's rather dark, even compared to his Pre C&H work drawing political cartoons. -- wattersonphile —Preceding unsigned comment added by 204.16.64.3 (talk) 15:25, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

Watterson's resemblence

I'm sure some of you have noticed this, but I just wanted to point out that Watterson looks very much like Calvin's dad, save for the mustache. Scorpionman 01:54, 7 October 2005 (UTC)

Yeah, I've noticed that too. I think I remember reading somewhere that Watterson said none of the characters are based off his life, but the resemblance between himself and Calvin's dad is uncanny. Harksaw 14:43, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

This is part-speculation so I'm not saying this should be added, but there is at least one strip where in the Tenth Anniversary book he said, "This is my dad. No exaggeration." Perhaps he looks a lot like his dad who looks like Calvin's dad as well. -WarthogDemon 15:57, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

Watterson picture

Should this page carry A picture of Watterson when it's well known he doesn't like publicity of most kinds?... Personally I probably would'nt include it, but I was just wondering if anyone else felt the same.

I really don't see anything wrong with it. It's not really publicity. It is just a reference picture, so we can have some idea of what he looks like.

I agree - the picture is very importaint. Scorpionman is right; minus the moustache, he's a dead ringer for Calvin's dad! Knowing that makes it a lot easier to see how Watterson uses Calvin's father in the strip as a mouthpiece for many of his own values. Harkenbane 17:40, 2 December 2005 (UTC)

Despite his personal reclusiveness, Watterson is still a public figure. Iceberg3k 20:14, 9 December 2005 (UTC)

As there will likely never be a free picture of Watterson we probably should fair use one of the few extant ones. --BHC (talk) 10:59, 28 November 2007 (UTC)

Someone should put back the photo of him that was once on the page. It would be a shame if someone deleted it just because Watterson is a recluse, which shouldn't matter here as Wikipedia hardly constitutes publicity.Tap1981 (talk) 22:24, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

Any agreement on bringing back Watterson's picture as fair use? Adondai (talk) 01:12, 11 May 2020 (UTC)

Inaccuracy

Watterson believes that art should not be judged by the medium for which it is created (i.e., that there is no "high" art or "low" art, just art)

A nitpick, but I don't think the line in the parentheses is true. Whether art is "high" or "low" does not necessarily depend on the medium. Thoughts? -falqas

Bill Watterson no longer lives in Chagrin Falls, OH. He moved to Cleveland Heights, OH in October of 2004. I'd rather not provide the source for this as it reveals his full address.Silentmars 13:55, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, I made a huge mistake and wrote in his street address here on his Wiki page (not the house number), it took all of 1/2 a day to be removed. Personally, I would be mad if someone did that to me. Hindsight is 20/20. It's true though, he no longer lives in Chagrin Falls... this is speculation too, but maybe part of his decision to move was due to the public finding out where he lived in that small town and the idea that he would be crowded by fans on his doorstep for an autograph. -wattersonphile

Calvin and Hobbes Influence

Much of the influence of Calvin and Hobbes comes from his childhood in Chagrin Falls. The schoo's mascot is a Tiger and Mrs. Wormwood is based upon a teacher who still substitutes these days named Mrs. Maus. You can often see the falls and the popcorn shop in his strip.

Trivia

I've removed the trivia tag, as the "trivia" section need only be tagged if the information itself is trivial. Note that there is a difference between the meanings of the word trivial and trivia, and the information occuring in the section at present is not trivial. Just because the points are succinct does not demean their relevance, and they really wouldn't benifit from expansion. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.29.193.243 (talk) 22:12, 5 October 2007 (UTC)

I've added the mp3 link once again. Earlier edit removed it, citing it as offensive, not sure why. Want to discuss here? Also, removed trivia point about Bill's brother working at a school in some state (start adding family members, where do you finish, and is such information encyclopaedic?) --OscarTheCat^talk 08:06, 15 March 2006 (UTC)

Honestly, I think it's just creepy. I'm removing it because I don't really think it's appropriate for the Bill Watterson article, you know, to mention a popstar pretending to be his stalker. It's just bizarre, and hardly relevant, unless it was something publicly recognized, which it is not.

I'm also curious as to how to reword the Garfield thing. Watterson's only comment on Garfield that I'm aware of its that it is "consistent;" he never out-and-out trashed Garfield the way it sounds like he did, and he has said that the reason that he never licensed Calvin and Hobbes is that any merchandise presented to him seemed like it went against the spirit of the strip.

Let's try to keep the Watterson entry relevant only to things related to Watterson... the Watterson-stalking popstar could have put the name of any public figure in that song without changing its concept (and the song is not at all culturally important, it's like naming every song to mention the X-Men in the X-Men article), and what Watterson thinks of the comics' leading strip is hardly "trivia." 67.101.7.248 10:29, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Coming in much later: I have a different take on the "family member" question. I looked up the "C&H" Bill Watterson because I had run across a reference to another Bill Watterson (in this case, William C. Watterson), presently a professor of English at Bowdoin College -- and on comparing their online biographies, I find that both attended Kenyon College in the 1970s, some years apart. Given that both William Wattersons are extensively published authors (albeit in different fields), and the Kenyon connection, I as a reader would find it useful to provide enough information to disambiguate the two men -- and not inappropriate to indicate whatever familial relationship might exist. -- (John C. Bunnell) 75.92.167.91 (talk) 22:51, 3 June 2012 (UTC)

Painting

I remember hearing somewhere that Watterson paints a lot, but destroys all his paintings in a fire at the end of each week so that none may profit from it. Is there any validity to this? Have I got him confused with someone else? -Bordello 22:40, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

• I read that someplace too, but I've no way of knowing if it's true.--Valin Kenobi130.71.13.249 20:20, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

A source for this is here. The link goes to the Wayback Machine version, the original article was removed from the Clevescene website a year and a half ago: http://web.archive.org/web/20080109083335/www.clevescene.com/2003-11-26/news/missing/3 Clockster (talk) 07:22, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

Retirement

Should the "Retirement" section have a date with the last published comic on it and possibly which comic it was?

Bibliography

Don't most authors have a bibliography section in their biographies? Should I *have* to go to Calvin and Hobbes to get a list of books Bill Watterson has authored? dreddnott 01:09, 30 January 2007 (UTC)

Cycling?

Greetings C&H fans, The first item under Trivia states that BW incorporated cycling as a theme of C&H. While I unfortunately haven't read all the strips ever published, I do have 5 albums and have seen many strips over the years, but as far as I can recall, have never seen the slightest reference to cycling, or even a bike - unless, of course, it is an American English term for racing downhill in a blur and flying off the edges of various things in a wagon, sled, or toboggan. Please put my mind at ease, or I'll have to slap a "citation needed" in there. Thanx, --Technopat 00:48, 25 February 2007 (UTC)

You should slap it. MURGH ^disc. 02:09, 25 February 2007 (UTC)

Calvin's dad is an avid biker. There are several strips that refer to this (interesting since they're some of the few strips in which C. doesn't appear at all). Gotterfunken 02:22, 25 February 2007 (UTC)

Where he lives

The article formerly said he lived in Cleveland Heights, using citations from 1989 and 1990. I thought that wasn't up-to-date enough, so I did some research. A Washington Post article ([1]) says he moved from Chagrin Falls to a house in the City of Cleveland in 2005. This Associated Press article also has him moving out of Chagrin Falls in 2005. I updated the article accordingly. Mwalcoff 02:08, 30 July 2007 (UTC)

Cul de Sac

According to this gocomics.com blog post - http://gocomics.typepad.com/laughtracks/2008/06/another-bill-wa.html - Watterson has praised the comic strip Cul de Sac and written the forward to its first anthology. Does this warrant a mention in the "Post-retirement" section? 211.30.131.243 (talk) 00:50, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

Conspiracy Theories and Frazz

Hey guys I'm just now joining this discussion so I apologize for coming out of nowhere but I just found some interesting things...

http://meyerweb.com/eric/thoughts/200404.html#d13t1143

Looking into it I seem to find Jef Mallett information that shows that he's a real person, although the same could be made for Richard Bachman. Any thoughts on whether to include this info somewhere (maybe this article, maybe another, I dunno). --NateDSaint (talk) 20:49, 25 January 2008 (UTC)

Also, I should state that I've done some research and the more I do, the more it seems like they are very different people with very similar interests and aesthetics, but I think maybe putting something about the theories would be useful. Here's an article that actually details the retirement of Bill Watterson (I believe it's used as a reference on the page) but if you read it you get the distinct impression that they are different people. http://www.clevescene.com/2003-11-26/news/missing/1 Just my 2c, I'm just saying we should address the rumors, give info from all sides, be neutral etc but at least put it in there. --NateDSaint (talk) 21:31, 25 January 2008 (UTC)

Are the rumors based on anything other than character resemblances? Considering that Frazz sucks eggs I doubt it's a secret project of Watterson's. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.177.48.86 (talk) 10:13, 3 May 2009 (UTC)

In case anyone is trying to get to the Clevescene article, it was removed from the website back in 2008, but the Wayback Machine link is here: http://web.archive.org/web/20080109083335/www.clevescene.com/2003-11-26/news/missing/1 Clockster (talk) 07:23, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

Melissa

Nothing on the internet seems to pay any attention to the man's family. For instance, what is his wife Melissa's maiden name? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.215.96.158 (talk) 20:22, 21 June 2009 (UTC)

Her maiden name (which she still uses) is Richmond, according to the aforementioned real estate records of a house in Cleveland Heights.Tap1981 (talk) 22:50, 8 September 2009 (UTC)

Shameless Plugs

Can someone please explain the relevance of his brother and college friends? They're not notable in any way and their presence contributes nothing to the article. In fact, being that Bill is such an opponent of "selling out" and commercializing yourself, it's disrespectful for some no-name college friends and his brother's band to be promoted here. Their presence here does nothing more than enable them to name-drop that they're in wikipedia article.

"Another student, known only as ‘Nat D.’ was studying at the same time as Watterson and whose roommate Jeff, had grown up with him in Chagrin Falls. Nat recalls that Bill lived in Caples Dorm, the only high-rise on campus." Who the hell cares? :| I'm striking it from the page. FinalStrife7 (talk) 07:15, 11 October 2009 (UTC)

The significance of both of those names was that Nat D. was the source of rare Watterson artwork and the others where clearly important enough to Watterson to be included into his comics and dedicated in his books - one of them at least is still one of Watterson closest friends and is interviewed in Nevin Mattells recent biography on Watterson. The relevance of his brother was more for trivia, and to reference the also rare artwork Watterson created for his band. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Adondai (talk • contribs) 12:24, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

2010 Interview

For the 15th anniversary of the end of the Calvin & Hobbes comic strip, BW agreed to an interview with the local newspaper: Bill Watterson, creator of beloved 'Calvin and Hobbes' comic strip looks back with no regrets 2010 interview by John Campanelli, The Plain Dealer. Asteriks (talk) 13:28, 2 February 2010 (UTC)

References

The 14th reference, of Watterson's autobiography is down. Sorry, I don't know what to do in these circumstances. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Glench (talk • contribs) 20:58, 15 December 2007 (UTC)

Ditto the 15th reference (might be the same link as the above post) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.22.225.65 (talk) 14:10, 12 March 2008 (UTC)

The article also maintains that he is an atheist, any source for that? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 32.178.107.35 (talk) 21:38, 8 September 2009 (UTC)

The only possible source I could find was the Q&A with fans. Someone asked him if he was raised Catholic and he said he'd never attended any church. This does not, however, make him an atheist. It would probably be better to delete that. If someone can find a more specific reference, they can change it back.Tap1981 (talk) 22:02, 8 September 2009 (UTC)

In some of the comics Calvin and Hobbes talk about praying, so maybe he is religious, but he seems a very secular person and he never talks about god or Jesus or anything like that in his commentaries. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.107.156.223 (talk) 07:44, 12 December 2010 (UTC)

Non sequitur

Furthermore, he opined that art should not be judged by the medium for which it is created (i.e., there is no "high" art or "low" art—just art).^{Bill Watterson (1995). The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book. Andrews McMeel. p. 208. ISBN 0-8362-0438-7.}

Is the part in parentheses really what Watterson has said or is it only the interpretation of a Wikipedia editor? Both are completely different ideas, and one does not follow from the other. One can accept a distinction between "high" and "low" art without regard for the medium. For example, one can easily be of the opinion that there is both "high" and "low" art in the same medium, such as comics. One may alternatively consider different genres within the same medium as within the domain of "high" or "low" art respectively (dime novels, romance, pulp, Westerns, thriller/suspense or detective stories as "low" art, philosophical, experimental or speculative fiction as "high" art, classical music and jazz as "high" and pop, rock, rap or techno as "low" art). So what has Watterson really said? Which of the two different opinions does he actually hold? A literal quote as part of the cite would really be helpful here. --Florian Blaschke (talk) 15:50, 1 December 2012 (UTC)

INFLUENCE SECTION/Other people BIO BOX??

I've read on other (trusted) websites and Wikipedia articles that Watterson has had several influences. However, due to the "person" box, there is no room to put this. There are A LOT of influences, I've listed a few below. Should we change Watterson from person to "other people" to aloft for more information?

ex. |influenced = Mark Tatulli
Stephen Pastis Explorser (talk) 02:27, 1 February 2013 (UTC)

Work in Pearls Before Swine???

As I'm sure many of you know, Bill Watterson recently drew for Pearls Before Swine, the popular strip by Stephen Pastis. I was wondering if it would be considered relevant to include this information, particularly because it is his first drawing and contributing to comic strips (professionally at least) since 1995.

http://stephanpastis.wordpress.com/2014/06/07/ever-wished-that-calvin-and-hobbes-creator-bill-watterson-would-return-to-the-comics-page-well-he-just-did/

(76.199.1.180 (talk) 18:56, 7 June 2014 (UTC))

Pictures - redux

This is a reboot of the 2005-2013 #Watterson picture discussion above. Because he values his privacy [2], it is unlikely that there will ever be a free picture of him. Therefore, we can use one under WP:FAIRUSE. On the other hand, WP:BLP may apply and "common courtesy" almost certainly does.

The questions for us, as editors, are:

• Will the use of one of the few published photographs of him ([3] shows 3, that may be all there are) improve the user's understanding of the article? The answer is of course yes., and
• Is this benefit to the public enough to warrant disrespecting his clear wishes? The answer is "I'm not sure." Assuming WP:BLP doesn't prohibit the violation of this public figure's privacy, it is this question that should drive the decision to use a photograph in this article or not.

davidwr/(talk)/(contribs) 03:11, 8 June 2014 (UTC)

End(?) of Calvin and Hobbes?

Hi:

In the section "End of Calvin and Hobbes," shouldn't that read "The last" New "strip of Calvin and Hobbes was published on December 31, 1995?" Seeing as the strip is still syndicated?

Albabe (talk) 19:37, 5 February 2012 (UTC)

It means that no more are being made. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 198.180.129.13 (talk) 12:26, 27 October 2014 (UTC)

WP:RS and webrot

It seems many of the cites in this article -- which must conform to WP:BLP, WP:RS, and WP:V -- are of very poor quality. Particularly so the many from ignatz.brinkster.net, which are so frankly numerous as to cause immediate concern.

ignatz.brinkster.net appears to have been a fan-page which has since moved to http://timhulsizer.com/calvin/index.php, which means that most of the cites in the article are broken. We might be able to go through and fix them (the link structure is not the same between the old and new sites) but frankly I don't think this site comes close to being satisfactory as a source for a BLP article (or any WP article, really). This isn't a criticism of the site itself, it's a very nice fan site, but fan sites are as a rule not reliable sources.

In various places these brinkster.net sites appear to be rehosted reliable newspaper articles from the likes of the Washington Post. These are acceptable RSs but we really should link directly to them. We should attempt to salvage these, but the rest of the site should be excised from this article I think, and better sources found.

Any thoughts? Eniagrom (talk) 18:14, 26 June 2016 (UTC)

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Age

hi a random dude here..... it says on the main page that he is 59 years old and I don't know how to fix it...... someone plz fix — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.193.56.68 (talk • contribs) 22:49, 5 September 2017 (UTC)

Is the date of birth incorrect? Do you have a source specifying a different date? Mindmatrix 12:39, 6 September 2017 (UTC)

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His ethnicity

I know Bill Watterson personally, and if I remember correctly, he is German, French-Canadian, Scottis and Irish. His father's name was James Godfrey Watterson (maybe Germanic) and I think his mother's side is Italian, Croatian and Catholic (although he does not practice.) Can anyone add this? Thanks :) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 73.207.75.0 (talk • contribs) 14:57, May 18, 2019 (UTC)

We need a reliable source for that and a reason to add it. He's not notable for his ethnicity so it's not really important to the article. ♟♙ (talk) 22:20, 3 August 2020 (UTC)

Suggestion for "in popular culture"

I think that there should be a link to Niel Cicerigia / Lemon Demon's Wikipedia page, because of his 2006 song "Bill Watterson" 83.29.37.3 (talk) 13:31, 29 August 2022 (UTC)