Bill Watterson is one of the most legendary names in the comics and cartooning world. As the creator of “Calvin and Hobbes”, he captivated millions, yet little is known about him personally. He drew “Calvin and Hobbes” for ten years, from 1985 to 1995. Watterson is one of the most unknown comic artists in terms of face, voice, licensing, and other works. There are extremely limited pictures of him online (two), and they are old photographs from the 1980s. He also has rarely done interviews before. 
Watterson grew up in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, where Calvin and Hobbes are speculated to have occurred. When Watterson was a kid, he was the complete opposite of Calvin, shy. According to an article by Sayantan Gayen, “Unlike his creation, cartoonist Bill Watterson was a shy and introverted kid growing up. He expressed his inner playfulness through his art, which took a hit when he became an adult.” Knowing that he was bashful as a kid could be part of the explanation as to why he is so hidden to this day.
Furthermore, Watterson does interviews extremely rarely. It’s so rare that some editors have to double-check to make sure it was the real Bill Watterson in the interview. According to Betsy Reed, “His contact with the outside world has been so rare, the magazine’s editors told the Poynter Institute that they put two fact-checkers on the case to be absolutely sure they were talking to the real Bill Watterson.”
In 2014, more than a decade after retirement, Bill Watterson shocked everyone. In the documentary titled “Stripped,”; a film about the increased decline of newspapers, there is a recording of Watterson’s voice. In an interview with web cartoonist Dave Kellet, he said, “It sounded like fun, and maybe something people wouldn’t expect, so I decided to give it a try.”. Another side note is Watterson did the cover art for the DVD. Watterson said, “Dave sent me a rough cut of the film, and I dusted the cobwebs off my ink bottle.”.
Bill Watterson again shocked all comic readers in the same year by collaborating with another popular comic strip artist, Stephan Pastis. Pastis is the creator of “Pearls Before Swine”. In 2014, Watterson and Pastis would create a series of comics together. When they were being published, fans had no clue who the “guest artist” was. (Pastis had often featured other artists on his strip). Not to reveal it was him or anything that had to do with him until the whole storyline was in the papers. After it was posted and revealed, Pastis wrote about it. He stated,
“I was traveling through Cleveland on a book tour and knew he lived somewhere in the area.”
He continues to say,
“And what do you know, he wrote back. Let me tell you. Just getting an email from Bill Watterson is one of the most mind-blowing, surreal experiences I have ever had. Does Bill Watterson exist? And he sends emails? And he’s communicating with me?”…”The cartoonist who last drew Calvin and Hobbes riding their sled into history would return to the comics page. To draw Pearls Before Swine.”
As we can see, Pastis and the countless fans were understandably in shock. Watterson’s mysterious nature has been ongoing since the 1980s and continues to this day. Even if we never know more about him, he has always left a bigger influence on cartooning and comics for decades.
(One of the strips when drawing the series. Watterson’s art is the first two panels)
