Reddit reviews Looking for Calvin and Hobbes: The Unconventional Story of Bill Watterson and his Revolutionary Comic Strip

It wasn't exactly that cut and dry. He was super happy for the format change. It allowed him to have a half page to release longer, less constrained, comic strips. He did release some merch, a tee shirt and a couple years of calendars. Read a book on him last week...

https://www.amazon.ca/Looking-Calvin-Hobbes-Unconventional-Revolutionary/dp/1441106855

Someone is doing a documentary about Calvin + Hobbes":
http://web.mac.com/joelallenschroeder/DMW/dearmrwatterson.html

There is also a book about how it influenced one guys life:
http://www.amazon.com/Looking-Calvin-Hobbes-Unconventional-Revolutionary/dp/1441106855 (the title is a bit misleading)

Lastly there is comic by a guy obviously influenced by C+H, both in style and substance called Frazz. It's fairly good too.

There's a documentary called Dear Mr. Watterson (it was available streaming at some point on Hulu I think) and a book about the strip and Bill's artwork called, [Looking for Calvin and Hobbes: The Unconventional Story of Bill Watterson and his Revolutionary Comic Strip]
(https://www.amazon.com/Looking-Calvin-Hobbes-Unconventional-Revolutionary/dp/1441106855) that speak about licencing to some degree. My impression is that Bill sees his strip as an art form and wants it to be appreciated to some degree as such.


Also, I think he is/was concerned about the Pandora's box of allowing any licencing. The strip was active durring a time where people actually read newspapers. His net worth is calculated to be somewhere around 450 million. Tose calculations are rarely correct, but suffice to say I don't know that he needs to license his strip for financial reasons. He has had multiple multi-million dollar offers and has declined them all.


I don't know how much Waterson spoke about this directly. I think he made most of his statements durring conversations within the industry. It should be noted that Waterson was known to slip autographed copies of his books on to the shelves of independent bookstores, but stopped the practice after learning that the copies where being bought and re-sold at ludicrous markups.

Edit

Finally have some time to double back and finish out my thought. I don't necessarily agree with Watterson on his approach. I appreciate his willingness to take a stand on his rights reguardless of the financial 'loss'.


While all items are an encroachment of his intellectual property, I don't consider fan art to be the great encroachment that some people do. In short, I would totally use a Calvin coffee cup, but only if I bought it from an artist that shares the appreciation of the character.

Edit II

The book I referenced earlier cites a speech Watterson made in chapel 6 called, The Cheapening of the Comics. The speech is very blunt and frank. He doesn't condem all licinging directly, but does state that it is very rarely done well.

Also not to sound to much like a pimp. But the story of the prototypes and bill burning them came from the wonderful book Looking For Calvin And Hobbes by Nevin Martell. so if anyone is interested in the Bill Watterson side of Calvin and Hobbes thats a great read

I feel that you will enjoy this.

He's never allowed C&H to be licensed for anything (save for one postage stamp and I think a calendar) so basically all the C&H merchandise that has come into existence is illegal or just knockoff. The idea for a movie/show has been pitched to him a million times and he always shrugs it off, partly because when it comes down to the voices, he wants that to be left to the readers' imaginations. While I've always wanted to see an animated Calvin and Hobbes too, I still have to respect the guy that created them and his decisions. This book sheds some light on Watterson and his thoughts regarding it. It's a good read if you're a fan.

If you like Waterson, I just read a biography about hiim, you should definitely check it out, the writer constantly talks about how Waterson will not talk to him or anyone else. If you're a fan you should check it out: https://www.amazon.com/Looking-Calvin-Hobbes-Unconventional-Revolutionary/dp/1441106855

I can tell you of all the comic artists, Waterson's estate is the biggest when it comes to stopping people from ripping off his work.