Well just by looking at my avatar, you can tell im a huge fan of the strips, and I respect Bill Watterson hugely for his work.

One thing I find amazing is that Bill Watterson didn't do commericials, toys, accesories, a tv show, movies, ect.... at all with Calvin and Hobbes and yet it is one of the most iconic comic strips of all time. But, can you imagine he if he did? Can you imagine the sales for a Hobbes doll would do? Or the ratings/tickets a movie or a tv show would do? Theres even more i could list. Dude could have seriously been a billionare, and he had so much artistic intergrity that he didn't do it. That is just amazingly admirable, you can never call this man a sellout in any way shape or form.

I'm glad he never did. Greatest cartoonist ever.

And please, change your avatar to

I'm sure he would have been but you gotta respect that maybe he wasn't in it to become super rich ( I'm sure he is rich but he was fine with what he had).

Here's a quote from him merchandising:

Actually, I wasn't against all merchandising when I started the strip, but each product I considered seemed to violate the spirit of the strip, contradict its message, and take me away from the work I loved. If my syndicate had let it go at that, the decision would have taken maybe 30 seconds of my life.

Another on animation:

If you look at the old cartoons by Tex Avery and Chuck Jones, you'll see that there are a lot of things single drawings just can't do. Animators can get away with incredible distortion and exaggeration ... because the animator can control the length of time you see something. The bizarre exaggeration barely has time to register, and the viewer doesn't ponder the incredible license he's witnessed. In a comic strip, you just show the highlights of action—you can't show the buildup and release ... or at least not without slowing down the pace of everything to the point where it's like looking at individual frames of a movie, in which case you've probably lost the effect you were trying to achieve. In a comic strip, you can suggest motion and time, but it's very crude compared to what an animator can do. I have a real awe for good animation.

If I remember right he also had a hard time imagining Calvin's voices, and felt uncomfartbale about any of his characters having voices. 

Watterson has shades of JD Salinger, more in the "determined recluse" sense than the "can't take critique of his work" sense. He really didn't want fame, or didn't want the effort that would have come with fame.

With stern effort, he could have retained creative control and made sure to release only items which did not violate the spirit of the strip (I have the 10th Anniversary Book, so i've read the comments as well), but the issue was he didn't want to be anything other than a cartoonist.

Which is quite all right, of course.

He'd probably own his own planet or something. :p

Seriously, though, from when I was little I was always disappointed that there was never an animated series. But I totally respect him for wanting to maintain the spirit of the series rather than whoring the ever living hell out of it.

Good first post.

Welcome to the forums!

Thanks! :)

Anyone hear about this, or am I just late? http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/smallfish/stripped-the-comics-documentary/posts/270039