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[timetokill]

Article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...o-the-comics-page-to-offer-a-few-pearls-gems/

The collaboration is a brilliant pairing of strengths, with Watterson illustrating Pastis’s sometimes-meta script. “I think we both got some surprises,” Watterson says. “I didn’t know what he was going to write, and he didn’t know how I was going to draw it.”

Pearls Before Swine creator's blog account: http://stephanpastis.wordpress.com/...d-return-to-the-comics-page-well-he-just-did/

Let me tell you. Just getting an email from Bill Watterson is one of the most mind-blowing, surreal experiences I have ever had. Bill Watterson really exists? And he sends email? And he’s communicating with me?

But he was. And he had a great sense of humor about the strip I had done, and was very funny, and oh yeah….

…He had a comic strip idea he wanted to run by me.

Now if you had asked me the odds of Bill Watterson ever saying that line to me, I’d say it had about the same likelihood as Jimi Hendrix telling me he had a new guitar riff. And yes, I’m aware Hendrix is dead.

So I wrote back to Bill.

“Dear Bill,

I will do whatever you want, including setting my hair on fire.”

So he wrote back and explained his idea.

He said he knew that in my strip, I frequently make fun of my own art skills. And that he thought it would be funny to have me get hit on the head or something and suddenly be able to draw. Then he’d step in and draw my comic strip for a few days.

Comics can be seen here:
- http://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2014/06/04
- http://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2014/06/05
- http://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2014/06/06

Original theorizing/discussion thread: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=832105




mock/lock if old/fake

 

[linkboy]

Nice, glad to see him (somewhat) back

 

[Vibranium]

Oh wow, the guest artist was really him!??????

I fucking love both Pearls Before Swine (Pastis) and Calvin and Hobbes (Watterson). Stephen getting into adventures and the way Rat lives his life is just the best.

 

[way more]

I don't' think I can breathe.

 

[B-Dubs]

Man, that's awesome. Gonna go bust out my Calvin and Hobbes collection now.

 

[deadbeef]

Yes, come out of your hiding Mr. Watterson, please.

 

[Bobby Roberts]

I'm smiling really big right now.

This is pretty damned cool.

 

[Horseticuffs]

Nobody could deny that Martian attack was Watterson's.

 

[GCX]

So I really am seeing the first new comic panels by Watterson in over 18 years. Wow.

 

[Alcander]

That is amazing, and also helps that Pearls Before Swine is one of the funnier strips remaining. Makes me miss Bill even more, though

 

[alfredofroylan]

Thanks Bill, thanks so much.

 

[Bobby Roberts]

Nobody could deny that Martian attack was Watterson's.

Oh, people denied.

But could you blame them?

Who wanted to believe only to have their hope trashed later?






...but some of us fuckin' KNEW.

 

[BannedEpisode]

Draws some thick women in that third strip.

 

[Elfforkusu]

Make more comics, Bill. The internet comic water is fine. You could do literally whatever you want and I would probably read it.

 

[Bobby Roberts]

Considering the steep, sharp decline of newspapers in general, Bill Watterson could ask for an entire fucking PAGE and they'd give it to him, knowing how many extra papers it would move.

 

[Vibranium]

Yeah, we need Bill back. Heck, get him and Stephen to co-write a new strip and that would be wonderful.

 

[Hazmat]

This is awesome. This mainly makes me want his art back, but then when you remember how great everything else was in C&H, damn.

 

[bon]

Wooooah.

 

[Fireblend]

Biggest megaton than any we'll see at E3

 

[tanooki27]

that's a big deal. hopefully it's a preamble for things to come.

 

[GSR]

Like I said in the other thread, I had a feeling (I think we all did) but still, wow. It was fantastic to see his art in the paper again, if only for a few days.

 

[Vyer]

holy shit just imagine the kind of thrill that would be for an artist. so cool.

 

[Vyroxis]

I miss Calvin & Hobbes. Time to break out my old collection.

 

[Pachinko]

I've been reading Pearls this past week , wondering who did the guest art. The second strip really reminded me of calvin and hobbes but I didn't expect the connection to be that Watterson actually drew those strips.

Pretty cool.

 

[BUNTING1243]

I'm having a miserable night and this story makes me so happy.

 

[Blizzard]

holy shit just imagine the kind of thrill that would be for an artist. so cool.

Considering how reclusive Bill Watterson has been, it really must feel like getting an email from a legendary ghost or something.

 

[Bobby Roberts]

Just when you think your capacity for surprise and amazement has been dulled... along comes Bill Watterson.

 

[Pachael]

The most important bit is that he hasn't lost it. *swoon*

 

[Eppy Thatcher]

Something about the way Watterson draws the ladies is so effin awesome. Not sticks, still kind of stylised/idealised but never too over the top and somehow still so right on the money. Something about it reminds me of Sam Keith only cleaner and I love it.

This is pretty cool story. Wish i belonged to some group of creators/artists and got to do stuff like this behind the scenes.

 

[chubigans]

Biggest megaton than any we'll see at E3

Hah, that be true.

 

[Cyan]

YOU GUYS.

*single tear*

I can't handle it you guys. Come back to us Mr. Watterson.

Calvin & Hobbes still the greatest ever.

 

[cdyhybrid]

Yeah, that Martian robot attack is a dead giveaway

Very cool.

 

[Jasconius]

Wow, this is amazing! I missed the speculation thread before and I didn't read the newspaper Wednesday, but when I saw Thursday's strip, I just immediately thought "Wow this looks just like Spaceman Spiff!" Pretty unbelievable that it was actually him after all this time... I miss getting to read Calvin and Hobbes every day after school so much...

 

[BrokenFiction]

:O Somebody hold me.

Even if he disappears into the mist again, we'll have this one small glimpse into the fact that not only does he still have it, he keeps up with comics and comic artists nearly 20 years after C&H. Amazin.

 

[CaptainGyro]

Until a few days I didn't even even know who the Pearls Before Swine guy was, but I watched the Dear Mr Watterson documentary recently and he was in it. He seems like a cool guy so I like that Bill watterson actually contacted him

 

[GCX]

:O Somebody hold me.

Even if he disappears into the mist again, we'll have this one small glimpse into the fact that not only does he still have it, he keeps up with comics and comic artists nearly 20 years after C&H. Amazin.

He's also done other small comics related stuff like writing the foreword the first Cul de Sac collection:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0740776517/?tag=neogaf0e-20

 

[bon]

I wish he would release a book or something. He must have drawn all kinds of stuff over the years.

 

[Cade]

Woooow. That's great art and just exciting in general. Watterson seems to be doing a lot more lately. 2015 year of watterson pls

 

[Mike M]

Bill, it's time to leave the hermit cave behind. You could do a web comic, do whatever the fuck you wanted, be completely free of all the problems you had with the industry, and just totally punch your own ticket the whole way.

Come back to us, Bill : (

 

[Sai-kun]

Amazing. Bill, please come back to us ;-;

 

[Shig]

I wouldn't dare to think he'll ever return with regular strip work, but between this and the Stripped poster, he's clearly got more itch to put pen to paper now than he has in almost 20 years. Or at least, to do so and then be willing to show it to anyone.

Exciting times!

 

[shira]

Calvin and Hobbes in the title? Not everyone knows Watterson.

Glad to hear he is back, sort of.

 

[Loxley]

That's so damn cool, glad to find out it was actually him

 

[Ashodin]

YOU GUYS.

*single tear*

I can't handle it you guys. Come back to us Mr. Watterson.

Calvin & Hobbes still the greatest ever.

Oh man this must be like... everything you wanted, seeing an old friend again, reliving your glory days!

 

[HP_Wuvcraft]

Keyser Soze has resurfaced. Now, he'll vanish and we'll never see him again.

 

[FelixOrion]

YOU GUYS.

*single tear*

I can't handle it you guys. Come back to us Mr. Watterson.

Calvin & Hobbes still the greatest ever.

Of course a tiger would say that...

 

[Hobbestetrician]

Unreal.

 

[Neuromancer]

Oh man I miss that guy. Not only one of the greatest comic artists and writers of all time (if not the greatest), but a man of great conviction and inner strength as well (as evidenced by his refusal to let his characters be sold out in merchandise or TV show/movie form.) I also admire that he went out on top, on his own terms, instead of letting his strip get drug out past it's natural life.

I never did get into Pearls Before Swine but I think it's super cool the way this all worked out.

 

[tensuke]

Ah! I knew it had to be him after the Martian strip, though the Zebra/Croc one kind of pushed me in that direction. Love C&H and PBS, my two favorite comics out there. The only comics I actually have all the books of. This was such a neat thing to happen, I hope Bill decides to do a little more here and there.

 

[MattKeil]

You want to save print? Just give Watterson the entire comics page to do with as he pleases. That would sell me my first newspaper in over a decade.

I have always been surprised that Watterson never did any more Calvin & Hobbes work in standalone books or something like that. His primary complaint was the commercialism and constraints of syndicate cartooning, but those restrictions wouldn't exist in a nice big high quality paper book like the 10th anniversary book he did. I just find it hard to believe he hasn't had some new ideas for Calvin & Hobbes adventures in the many years since the end of the strip.