General

Calvin and Hobbes creator speaks

Reclusive cartoonist gives his first interview in over 20 years

Bill Watterson, the creator of Calvin and Hobbes, ended the strip in 1994 and went into seclusion, becoming America’s most famous recluse since the late J.D. Salinger. But while Watterson still isn’t planning to un-retire, he has finally granted an interview, his first since 1989. Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter John Campanelli somehow managed to get Watterson to answer a few questions via e-mail on such issues as his decision to cancel the strip after doing it for only a decade: “By the end of 10 years,” he says, “I’d said pretty much everything I had come there to say,” and he thinks the strip is more beloved now because “I chose not to run the wheels off it.” He says that fan attention has eased off and that most are now willing to let him “go about my quiet life and do my best to ignore the rest.” He did not comment on whether Spaceman Spiff could beat Stupendous Man, but maybe he’ll deal with that when he gives his next interview 20 years from now.

Cleveland Plain Dealer

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