The Revenge of the Baby-Sat by Bill Watterson

He had already decided on a career in cartooning, but he felt studying political science would help him move into editorial cartooning. : 20–3Īfter high school, Watterson attended Kenyon College, where he majored in political science.

Watterson found avenues for his cartooning talents throughout primary and secondary school, creating high school-themed super hero comics with his friends and contributing cartoons and art to the school newspaper and yearbook. Later, they recalled him as a 'conservative child' - imaginative, but 'not in a fantasy way', and certainly nothing like the character of Calvin that he later created. His parents encouraged him in his artistic pursuits. This made a big impression on him at the time. On one occasion when he was in fourth grade, he wrote a letter to Charles Schulz, who responded, much to Watterson's surprise. This continued through his school years, during which time he discovered comic strips such as Pogo, Krazy Kat, and Charles Schulz' Peanuts which subsequently inspired and influenced his desire to become a professional cartoonist. Watterson drew his first cartoon at age eight, and spent much time in childhood alone, drawing and cartooning. Watterson has a younger brother, Thomas Watterson. In 1965, six-year-old Watterson and his family moved to Chagrin Falls, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland. The suburban Midwestern United States setting of Ohio was part of the inspiration for Calvin and Hobbes.īill Watterson was born on July 5, 1958, in Washington, D.C., to Kathryn Watterson (1933-2022) and James Godfrey Watterson. Watterson was born in Washington, D.C., and grew up in Chagrin Falls, Ohio.

Watterson is known for his negative views on comic syndication and licensing, his efforts to expand and elevate the newspaper comic as an art form, and his move back into private life after he stopped drawing Calvin and Hobbes. Watterson stopped drawing Calvin and Hobbes at the end of 1995, with a short statement to newspaper editors and his readers that he felt he had achieved all he could in the medium. William Boyd Watterson II (born July 5, 1958) is an American cartoonist and the author of the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, which was syndicated from 1985 to 1995.

The Revenge of the Baby-Sat by Bill Watterson