At the end of 1995, “Calvin and Hobbes” sledded off the comics page for the final time, and its long-reclusive creator, Bill Watterson, retired from the business, never to draw another syndicated newspaper strip.
Until now.
Last week, the millions of readers across generations who have pined for the cartoonist’s return got a sudden glimmer. Turns out, Watterson’s hand has been hiding in plain sight. Watterson has returned to the comics page — even if only for a limited engagement.
For three days, Watterson — once known as the J.D. Salinger of the strips — has resurfaced.
Since Wednesday, Watterson’s new artwork has been featured in Stephan Pastis’ syndicated strip, “Pearls Before Swine.” It’s a creative collaboration that stunned Pastis, who said that he sooner expected to team up with “Peanuts” creator Charles Schulz.
“And yes,” Pastis said slyly, “I am aware that Schulz is dead.”
Watterson has long eschewed most interviews and publicity photos — he once made Time magazine’s list of most-reclusive celebrities, sandwiched between Syd Barrett and Thomas Pynchon. Working with him, Pastis said, “is like getting a call from Bigfoot.”
So what, exactly, lured Watterson back to the page for the first time since ending his popular boy-and-tiger comic in December 1995?
“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,” Watterson said, 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.”
A couple of months ago, Watterson said, Pastis got in touch with him when the “Pearls” author was in the Cleveland area on his book tour. At the same time, Watterson knew that editor and designer Chris Sparks was looking for new ways to raise money for Team Cul de Sac, a charity co-founded by Sparks and cartoonist-illustrator Richard Thompson that raises funds to fight Parkinson’s disease.
“Somehow the juxtaposition clicked on a light bulb,” Watterson said.
Thompson, a longtime Washington Post artist who lives in Arlington, Va., ended his award-winning syndicated strip “Cul de Sac” in 2012 as he underwent therapy and surgery to treat his Parkinson’s; Watterson is a fan of Thompson, and the two now have a dual exhibit at Ohio State University’s Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum in Columbus.
“I thought maybe Stephan and I could do this goofy collaboration and then use the result to raise some money for Parkinson’s research in honor of Richard Thompson,” Watterson said. “It just seemed like a perfect convergence.”
Pastis was more than happy to give it a shot.
Both in person and on the page, Pastis is self-deprecating about his artistic prowess. So the conceit in this week’s strips is that a second-grader named Libby (a name that nods to “Bill”) boasts that she can draw “Pearls” better than the feature’s creator.
Pastis’ cartoon avatar turns over his “stick figure” comic to the girl — who proceeds to render rich worlds of imagination beyond the signature style of the strip. From invading Martians to big-mouthed (and Pastis-devouring) crocodiles, the art brims with the life of Watterson’s expressive line.
“I think we both got some surprises,” Watterson said. “I didn’t know what he was going to write, and he didn’t know how I was going to draw it.”
From Wednesday through Friday, Pastis ceded his middle panels to Watterson. Pastis summoned the gumption to offer a few pointers.
“It was like editing the pope,” Pastis said. “Like telling Michelangelo: ‘David’s hands are too big.’”
Yet the California-based Pastis suggested minor tweaks to fit the tone of his strip — including the number of “grawlix,” or punctuation characters that represent cartoon profanity, to match the number of letters in his curse words.
Pastis drew Saturday’s “Pearls” himself as a respectful tip of the cap to Watterson, referencing one of the best farewell strips in the history of comics: “Calvin and Hobbes” bittersweet, sledding-into-white-space (and untold adventures) goodbye.
Some “Calvin” enthusiasts began blogging theories Wednesday, noting visual touches in “Pearls” that piqued their curiosity — were those “Watterson shoes,” or his headlighted spaceships, or his telltale furniture legs?
The original “Pearls” strips featuring Watterson’s work will be auctioned for the Cul de Sac charity.
“It was generous of Stephan to let me hijack his creation and more generous still to donate the originals,” said Watterson, adding that he hopes the auctioning “meets with some success.”