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Ever Wished Bill Watterson Would Return to the Comics Page? He Just Did

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Re: Ever Wished Bill Watterson Would Return to the Comics Page? He Just Did

#21

Post by massappeal »

whatshisface wrote: post #4

Is it just me or are the strips... just not that funny? All three of them are basicly the same joke, with one containing a minor reference to Watterson's page formatting preferences. Now that I think of it, that's really par for the course (or maybe a birdie) for newspaper comic strips in general. I guess it just seems strange to see the world's best living cartoonist come out of the fortress of solitude and do somet…

I think their funnier if you understand the subtle Watterson references. The 3rd panel of the 2nd strip for instance references Bill's career-long battle over the confinement of the existing panel structure.

Re: Ever Wished Bill Watterson Would Return to the Comics Page? He Just Did

#22

Post by Semaphor »

mherdeg wrote: post #19
Shinkei wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Were you a fan of C&H? I think that the lens of nostalgia strengthens our pleasant memories of the books and can't really ever compare to these new strips. You need character development, plot... most of his stories would extend across the entire week or longer. (Oh man, the family camping trips in C&H were hilarious) Just appreciate it for what it is--a window into our fond memories of Watterson's work.

After spending years reading Web comics I now find that "C&H" maps to Cyanide & Happiness rather than Calvin & Hobbes. (Which is crazy; I read all the Calvin & Hobbes strips and grew up in Cleveland Heights for pete's sake!) It didn't used to be that way. Modern Webcomics are starting to be big cultural phenomena (income comparable with a comfortable full-time job or better for the stars in the industry)

At least on Reddit Cy&H is used for that.

Re: Ever Wished Bill Watterson Would Return to the Comics Page? He Just Did

#23

Post by wisty »

whatshisface wrote: post #4

Is it just me or are the strips... just not that funny? All three of them are basicly the same joke, with one containing a minor reference to Watterson's page formatting preferences. Now that I think of it, that's really par for the course (or maybe a birdie) for newspaper comic strips in general. I guess it just seems strange to see the world's best living cartoonist come out of the fortress of solitude and do somet…

I think the jokes are by Stephan, and Bill just did the drawing. And yes, it's just a bunch of references to Bill and Stephan's work.

Also, the final strip is pretty good. Not the one drawn by Bill ... the followup here - http://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2014/06/07

Re: Ever Wished Bill Watterson Would Return to the Comics Page? He Just Did

#25

Post by waterlesscloud »

whatshisface wrote: post #4

Is it just me or are the strips... just not that funny? All three of them are basicly the same joke, with one containing a minor reference to Watterson's page formatting preferences. Now that I think of it, that's really par for the course (or maybe a birdie) for newspaper comic strips in general. I guess it just seems strange to see the world's best living cartoonist come out of the fortress of solitude and do somet…

Give it 48 hours and Boing Boing, HuffPo, Medium, etc will all have long posts revealing the hidden profundity to you.

Re: Ever Wished Bill Watterson Would Return to the Comics Page? He Just Did

#26

Post by Dwolb »

noonespecial wrote: post #5
whatshisface wrote: post #4

Is it just me or are the strips... just not that funny? All three of them are basicly the same joke, with one containing a minor reference to Watterson's page formatting preferences. Now that I think of it, that's really par for the course (or maybe a birdie) for newspaper comic strips in general. I guess it just seems strange to see the world's best living cartoonist come out of the fortress of solitude and do somet…

For Watterson that might literally be the funny. Like finding Jeff Gordon driving your kids' school bus one idle morning.

I think you're right. The Washington Post article backs this up,“Several years ago, when Stephan did one of his strips that mocked his own drawing ability and mentioned my strip in comparison, I thought it might be funny for me to ghost ‘Pearls’ sometime, just to flip it all on its head,” the goateed Watterson tells me, offering a clear indication that he still follows the funnies. “It was just a silly idea, and I didn’t know Stephan, so I never pursued it, and years went by.”

Re: Ever Wished Bill Watterson Would Return to the Comics Page? He Just Did

#28

Post by ablativenotion »

JoshTriplett wrote: post #18
fernly wrote: post #10

I wonder if Watterson really believes the gag line for the third strip, "Nah, the art form's dying"? He might, being (apparently) a neo-luddite of some sort. But there has never been as many, or as good, comics as there are now, or as many busy, thriving comic artists. Hint: they are not found at gocomics.com.

I seriously doubt it. As an art form, newspaper comics are going the way of newspapers, but comics in general are thriving more than ever. The Internet has provided the perfect platform for them, and crowdfunding works quite well for strips with a following.

The question wasn't whether or not comics is a dying art form. The question is if Bill Watterson BELIEVES that it is, with the suggestion that he might believe so because he possibly doesn't like computers very much and therefore might not be fully aware of web comic artists.

Re: Ever Wished Bill Watterson Would Return to the Comics Page? He Just Did

#29

Post by calibraxis »

fernly wrote: post #10

I wonder if Watterson really believes the gag line for the third strip, "Nah, the art form's dying"? He might, being (apparently) a neo-luddite of some sort. But there has never been as many, or as good, comics as there are now, or as many busy, thriving comic artists. Hint: they are not found at gocomics.com.

Could you please share where I could find wonderful comics? Are these good places to look: http://www.webcomicsnation.com/ and http://www.buzzfeed.com/kevintang/42-web-comics-you-need-to-...

Re: Ever Wished Bill Watterson Would Return to the Comics Page? He Just Did

#30

Post by egypturnash »

Natsu wrote: post #27
tptacek wrote: post #3

Whoah. Second panel of the second Watterson strip. Chills.

I had every single C&H book growing up. I wish he'd draw again... maybe they can teach him how to make a webcomic? No confining panel structure here...

From what I've heard, dude is basically kinda done with the comics grind.

Which is not surprising. I do a webcomic, and have no day job to distract me from it, and yet sometimes I can't even manage one page a week, let alone the six B&W strips and one Sunday strip that being a Syndicated Cartoonist involves. I have a friend who's doing the syndicate gig right now[1] and she's basically impossible to get ahold of because she's always got to stay on top of her buffer.

It's kinda like coding for video games. It's a dream job but the reality is that there are a ton of other people clawing for the same position so you better work your ass off, kiddo!!11!!!. Well, okay, maybe less of a dream job now that newspapers are dead but you know what I mean. That shit burns you out but good.

1: http://www.gocomics.com/heavenly-nostrils

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