Early Bill Watterson rarities

Here's a collection of rare early Bill "Calvin and Hobbes" Watterson's toons from The Kenyon Collegian, his college paper from Kenyon, Ohio. They're a little edgier than the Calvin and Hobbes strips (but not as funny). Link (Thanks, Pat!)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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The Snowden Principle

Parq

Check this one. I didn’t even know Watterson went to my school, much less that he knew me!

http://ignatz.brinkster.net/cimages/ckenyon03.jpg
eauclaire101

I hated February’s in Wisconsin. The weather gets so cold, it can kill you.

Travis
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lotusstp

No Rumor! Fact! I saw it! Bill was allowed to paint and extremely faithful reproduction of Michaelangelo’s “Creation of Adam” on the ceiling of his bedroom provided that, by the end of the school year, he paint it over. It’s probably had a few more coats of paint covering it since then… I believe this was his sophomore year @ Kenyon, and his roommate at the time was Mr. Brett “Fungus Among Us” Cohen. However, it was not in 222 Hanna; Bill lived in Mather (if memory serves me) that year…
virgil

His drawings are impressive at that stage, but his writing is not. It’s almost a relief to see that he didn’t spring forth fully formed…
lotusstp

Went to Kenyon, was classmate of Bill’s and hung out on the periphery of Bill’s posse. The guy in the photo was another friend of mine, Chin Beg Ho. And yes, knowing that makes it hilarious.

This cartoon: http://ignatz.brinkster.net/cimages/ckenyon15.jpg
is a caricature of another classmate of mine, Tom Chesnutt. Bill also did a series of mock posters featuring Tom, including this, which is incredibly prescient given our current saber rattling towards Iran: http://www.greendoch.com/chesnutt/chesnutt.jpg
DoorFrame

What!? You don’t think this one is funny?

http://ignatz.brinkster.net/cimages/ckenyon18.jpg

Come on.

If only we knew who the guy was, I bet it would be hilarious.
Spherical Time

That site has a lot of other interesting things by Watterson on it, such as introductions to other cartoonist’s collections and editorials about cartooning.

Very Cool.
JArmstrong

Aha! “Creation of Adam” is real! We had heard that it was a triple in Hanna, which would make more sense because of the high ceilings. However, if Bill had a terrible lottery pick for rooms at the end of his freshman year (as I did), he would end up in Mather his sophomore year (as I did).

I hope somewhere a photograph exists, but if not… a powerful piece of something to be incorporated into that place’s essence.
JArmstrong

Indeed, February is so depressing in Gambier, Ohio. Kenyon hosts its second-biggest party of the year, Phling, in February to help everybody, students, faculty, and staff alike, drown their blues and dance the night away.
Watterson captures the blues quite nicely.

Rumor has it that Watterson painted some sort of Michaelangean masterpiece on the ceiling of his triple in 222 Hanna. It was supposedly never stripped, but was painted over by maintenance.

Is recovery (or even proof thereof) hopeless?

Jake ’01
Nufftin

Actually, the town is Gambier, OH. An hour from Columbus, two from Cleveland, three from Cincinnati.

Kenyon ’91
Zyklon

http://ignatz.brinkster.net/cimages/ckenyon01.jpg

I wonder if he looked back at that and thought “Holy shit, Cheney!”