Talk:Bill Watterson

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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

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)

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)

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)

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.

However, I did a search on Watterson on a Cuyahoga County government website (I'll leave out the details to respect his privacy) and found that someone named W.B. Watterson II, and whose wife's name begins with an "M," bought a house in Cleveland Heights in 2001. I'm not going to say where in Cleveland Heights (a town of 50,000), but being familiar with the area, I can tell you it's far more likely that a wealthy individual like Watterson, even one who lives modestly, lives at that address in Cleveland Heights than in any home in the City of Cleveland. (If he wasn't modest, he'd live in Hunting Valley or somewhere.) Almost all of the city is either ghetto or ethnic working-class, although some rich people may live in downtown condos.

So I don't know what we should say about what city he lives in. -- Mwalcoff 02:08, 30 July 2007 (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)

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)

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)

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