Live data from Hacker News

An Interview with Bill Watterson (1987)

timhulsizer.com

81–90 of 94 posts

Re: An Interview with Bill Watterson (1987)

#81
post #50

Man was Calvin & Hobbes awesome. IMNSHO every comic strip currently in print still lives in its shadow. C&H had it all - good illustration, good writing, life insight. It was a real life line for weird kids.

I don't know. The farside is pretty good, as well as Pearls Before Swine. Oh, and Cyanide and Happiness. None of them reach the meta level of social/theological commentary that C&H did, but they're still really, really good on their own, doing their own things.

[deleted]

Re: An Interview with Bill Watterson (1987)

#82
post #50

Man was Calvin & Hobbes awesome. IMNSHO every comic strip currently in print still lives in its shadow. C&H had it all - good illustration, good writing, life insight. It was a real life line for weird kids.

I don't know. The farside is pretty good, as well as Pearls Before Swine. Oh, and Cyanide and Happiness. None of them reach the meta level of social/theological commentary that C&H did, but they're still really, really good on their own, doing their own things.

[deleted]

Re: An Interview with Bill Watterson (1987)

#83
post #6

Side note, but every time I DON'T see a Hobbes plushy, a Calvin bauble head, the Calvin and Hobbes TV series, etc. I'm so thankful that Watterson grimly held onto the merchandising rights of his characters. He maintained such a high standard for his comic right unto the end. Not everything in this world needs to be commoditized to death. "But how will new generations learn about Calvin and Hobbes without Calvin and H…

Whenever the topic of copyright comes up on HN, the prevailing view in comments section is that copyrights should be relatively short and cultural artifacts should be available to everyone to use as they please. So I find it interesting ("interesting") how people seem to universally appreciate that Calvin & Hobbes are protected from any 3rd-party use, meanwhile they universally revile Disney for not allowing people t…

As one of those people I guess I can just say: I'd prefer that people respect Watterson's opinion about merch and knock-offs but that I'd also prefer the government not enforce that beyond 14 or so years.

Re: An Interview with Bill Watterson (1987)

#84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I'm so thankful that Watterson grimly held onto the merchandising rights of his characters. I'm always kind of bummed about it, instead of quality official merchandise there are a bunch of peeing calvin stickers on lifted pickup trucks.

Those stickers would exist regardless. They are a wild meme from the preinternet.

If he had licensed the rights to a company making official merch, they'd have went after the companies making the shitty knockoff stuff.

Re: An Interview with Bill Watterson (1987)

#85
post #50

Man was Calvin & Hobbes awesome. IMNSHO every comic strip currently in print still lives in its shadow. C&H had it all - good illustration, good writing, life insight. It was a real life line for weird kids.

I don't know. The farside is pretty good, as well as Pearls Before Swine. Oh, and Cyanide and Happiness. None of them reach the meta level of social/theological commentary that C&H did, but they're still really, really good on their own, doing their own things.

Agree. But they're well in second and third compared to Calvin & Hobbes. :)

I also think Bloom County deserves to be on the list of all-time greats.

Re: An Interview with Bill Watterson (1987)

#86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those stickers would exist regardless. They are a wild meme from the preinternet.

If he had licensed the rights to a company making official merch, they'd have went after the companies making the shitty knockoff stuff.

Depends on the company, but even Disney has their merch knocked off in large amounts.

Re: An Interview with Bill Watterson (1987)

#87
post #44
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have immense respect for Watterson. He's the only artist I can think of to achieve that level of fame and success and not sell out. Selling out is barely even a concept any more because it's simply assumed, and Watterson is still out there in a cabin in the woods, communicating only by mail and refusing every corporate offer that comes his way.

>He's the only artist I can think of to achieve that level of fame and success and not sell out. Gary Larson of The Far Side comes close but never touched the highs of Calvin and Hobbes

It was successful enough that social media is full of bot accounts claiming to be "the far side" posting stolen/ai comics that may or may not be actual TFS.

Re: An Interview with Bill Watterson (1987)

#88
post #6

Side note, but every time I DON'T see a Hobbes plushy, a Calvin bauble head, the Calvin and Hobbes TV series, etc. I'm so thankful that Watterson grimly held onto the merchandising rights of his characters. He maintained such a high standard for his comic right unto the end. Not everything in this world needs to be commoditized to death. "But how will new generations learn about Calvin and Hobbes without Calvin and H…

I do wonder what will happen when it enters public domain. Will it have been too long, so nobody will bother creating merchandise and derivative works? Or will there be an explosion of Calvin and Hobbes material? I can’t think of a comparable test case.

That won't be for another 70+ years since Watterson is still alive and it was created after 1977. I can't imagine there'll be that much demand for C&H merch by then

Re: An Interview with Bill Watterson (1987)

#89
post #50

Man was Calvin & Hobbes awesome. IMNSHO every comic strip currently in print still lives in its shadow. C&H had it all - good illustration, good writing, life insight. It was a real life line for weird kids.

I don't know. The farside is pretty good, as well as Pearls Before Swine. Oh, and Cyanide and Happiness. None of them reach the meta level of social/theological commentary that C&H did, but they're still really, really good on their own, doing their own things.

...theological?

Re: An Interview with Bill Watterson (1987)

#90
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know. The farside is pretty good, as well as Pearls Before Swine. Oh, and Cyanide and Happiness. None of them reach the meta level of social/theological commentary that C&H did, but they're still really, really good on their own, doing their own things.

...theological?

Theological might not have been the best word but there's definitely a lot of spiritual insight offered up in C&H.
Post reply on HN