Calvin and Hobbes original art expected to get at least $125,000 at auction

NewImage
Bill Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes was the last great American newspaper comic strip, and opportunities to acquire original art are as rare as bug's teeth. Heritage Auctions is rightfully giddy to be offering a hand-colored Sunday strip. (I wouldn't be surprised if Watterson himself buys it.)

Oh boy -- be prepared to have your world rocked by this one, Comic Art lovers!

We don't have to tell you how incredibly rare this amazing masterwork is! It is, in fact, the first time this century that a Calvin and Hobbes comic strip original is being offered at public auction! It's a well known fact that artist Bill Watterson has carefully held onto his original artwork, despite many generous offers to part with a strip. We're not kidding when we say we would have been ecstatic to have uncovered a daily example of this medium-defining comic strip to offer, but to have a beautifully hand-colored (by the artist himself) Sunday is pretty much beyond belief! It was presented by Watterson as a gift to fellow cartoonist Brian Basset, creator of the popular strips Adam@Home and Red and Rover, who cherished it for many years in his personal collection.

Why is Basset selling the gift given to him by Watterson? The Daily Cartoonist reports that Basset is in a "financial pinch related to an earlier divorce and upcoming wedding has prompted him to put the piece on the auction block."

Bill Watterson Calvin and Hobbes Hand-Colored Sunday Comic Strip Original Art dated 10-19-1986 (Universal Press Syndicate, 1986)

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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plyx

I’m still mad at Watterson for breaking my heart. Breathed, too! Remember when Doonesbury was good?
- huskerdont
  
  Yes to the first two, but I still think Doonesbury is good.
  - plyx
    
    It’s still good compared to the rest, but the bar is SO damn low now.
- retchdog
  
  obligatory. http://i.imgur.com/68y1f.jpg
  
  [watterson sent it to breathed, apparently in good fun. i think the context of it was his fight with newspapers to accept a more freeform layout for comics: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Watterson#Changing_the_format_of_the_Sunday_strip]
- sburns54
  
  I was immensely saddened when C & H stopped…it was like a door to childhood closing. But I never cared for Bloom County, though I read it every Sunday. Seemed he tried too hard. I think in 100 years C & H will still be known (like Krazy Kat, Little Nemo, etc. are today) but can’t say the same for Bloom County.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_E4LRYB252EYEOTSDK5ZBWLBZ6U yahoo-E4LRYB252EYEOTSDK5ZBWLBZ6U

“Last great American newspaper comic strip”? Have you heard of Mutts?
- http://www.facebook.com/dewimorgan Dewi Morgan
  
  The syndicated comics aren’t where the great strips are, any more.
  Reliability of output is about the only criterion they seem to use in picking artists to syndicate.
  
  Few would even notice the passing of Mutts, if the artist stopped drawing. In comparison, the end of C&H is mourned by millions to this day as the end of an era.
  
  And he did represent the end of an era: the era where a comic artist could throw a strop, and anyone would care. Syndicated comic artists no longer get to act like prima donnas, because there’s intense pressure for their role from self-published and web comics.
  - http://pulse.yahoo.com/_E4LRYB252EYEOTSDK5ZBWLBZ6U yahoo-E4LRYB252EYEOTSDK5ZBWLBZ6U
    
    So the thing that makes a strip “great” is how many people read it?
    
    If you don’t like Mutts, that’s your opinion. But a lot of people would say Mutts is comparable in the quality of humor and emotion to “Peanuts”, “Calvin & Hobbes” or any other strip you could call “great” in quality, not just reliability and readership.
    - SamSam
      
      I think that yes, the number of people *does* make a difference.
      
      I don’t know if you were around when C&H stopped, but it really was like the end of an era. Everybody read and loved C&H.
      
      Sure, Mutts may be excellent, and there may be some small-town papers that cary local strips that are truly incredible, but I think when one talks about a strip being one of the “greats,” the size of the population that cares about them does factor into it some, yes.
      - Antinous / Moderator
        
        Everybody read and loved C&H.
        
        No.
      - mark
        
        REALLY?!?! You don’t like Calvin OR Hobbes? That kinda makes me sad :-(
      - Antinous / Moderator
        
        I’ve never read it.
      - That_Anonymous_Coward
        
        I’ve seen a very well done image of a grown up C&H you might like Antinous…
        Rule 34 and all that….
      - http://pulse.yahoo.com/_E4LRYB252EYEOTSDK5ZBWLBZ6U yahoo-E4LRYB252EYEOTSDK5ZBWLBZ6U
        
        OK, Mutts hasn’t spawned enough merchandise to be considered great. Have you heard of a strip called “Dilbert”?
    - http://www.facebook.com/dewimorgan Dewi Morgan
      
      That’s the weird thing about greatness. The same could be said of Tolkien, after all. There are a bajillion fantasy authors. Many are arguably “comparable” in a couple of aspects. But Tolkien was the one who got there first, broke that ground, and so on. So he’s a great, and they’re also-rans, with the possible exceptions of Pratchett and Rowling.
      
      Greatness seems to be a thing of acclamation, not of inherent quality. There are a few cartoonists recognized as great; James Kochalka (American Elf) is his state’s cartoonist Laureate, for instance; Thunt (Goblins Comic) can raise $50k with a single page; Randall Munroe (XKCD) is… well, just is. And there are slightly-less-known stars, like Aaron Williams (PS238), Christopher Hastings (Dr McNinja), Phil & Kaja Foglio (Girl Genius), and anything from RCSI Publishing.
      
      Many more might be recognized as great, and deserve more exposure: like Tab (KhaosKomix); Kazerad (Prequel: or making a cat cry); Ben Fleuter (Derelict); Zack Morrison (Paranatural); Ashley Cope (Unsounded), KrazyKrow (Spinerette)…OK, I’ll shut up with comic recommendations :) So many fantastic ones…
      - http://pulse.yahoo.com/_E4LRYB252EYEOTSDK5ZBWLBZ6U yahoo-E4LRYB252EYEOTSDK5ZBWLBZ6U
        
        Nobody said Calvin and Hobbes isn’t great. I used Mark’s (possibly somewhat off-the-cuff) characterization of C&H as the “**last** great newspaper comic” to highlight one of my favorite great newspaper comics. Calvin and Hobbes is great. Mutts is also great. Dilbert is also great. And Mutts and Dilbert are still running.
      - http://pulse.yahoo.com/_E4LRYB252EYEOTSDK5ZBWLBZ6U yahoo-E4LRYB252EYEOTSDK5ZBWLBZ6U
        
        There are lots of things that make a comic great: humor, emotion, insight into the human condition, …
        
        If it’s all about who was first, and there’s only room for one “great” in the world as your analogy to Tolkien seems to be claiming, then Peanuts is it and C&H was never great.
        
        If there’s room for more than one “great”, then there are still great newspaper comics out there, and C&H isn’t the “last”.
        
        Is M*A*S*H the last great television comedy-drama because cable broke up the big-3 oligopoly and no new tv show will ever have a captive audience again?
- sburns54
  
  ”Mutts” is great, I agree. What Patrick does with coloring, his distinctive ink style, imaginative layout and design, and emotional depth (when he wants to toss in a bit of pathos) are particularly impressive in this age of tiny strips in dying newspapers.
  Just open to the comics page- ‘Mutts” jumps right out at you. Spare, deceptively simple lines- he is a master of the form.
  
  I ran a comic book store in NJ in the late 70′s early 80′s, and went to school and was good friends with his girlfriend/ now wife Karen. They were always great, unique people (Karen sang in “Steel Tips”, one of the 1st “punk” bands in NJ). I am glad (as a comic snob- Jack Kirby? blecccch! except for Boys Ranch) that Patrick has “made it” on his own terms, doing a strip I can truly say I love and is not a piece of crap.
http://dailygrail.com/ Red Pill Junkie

I respect Watterson’s artistic integrity so much, I even forgive him for denying me a Calvin & Hobbes movie.
- EH
  
  A movie? Stifle yourself.
  - http://dailygrail.com/ Red Pill Junkie
    
    I know that he fought real hard to prevent the trite commercialization of his intellectual property, yet at the same time as a life-long fan I can’t deny I would have loved to see some decent animation projects involving my favorite kid/stuffed tiger duo.
    - SamSam
      
      Gaaaaaaaaah!
      
      Just thinking about Calvin having some goofy cartoon voice is enough to give money to whoever would have the power to stop that, if it started to come true.
      - http://dailygrail.com/ Red Pill Junkie
        
        It wouldn’t have to be like that. Plenty of decent cartoons out there where they hired actual children to do the voice acting.
        
        Have a little faith, Charlie Brown ;)
      - retchdog
        
        i’m pretty sure i read an interview with bill watterson himself, where he said that the voicing was the major problem in a C&H cartoon, and he couldn’t think of a solution.
      - EH
        
        Obviously the solution is Patton Oswalt and John Goodman.
Michael Polo

If you’re reading, Bill, I wish you all the amusement you gave your readers over the years…… Keep exploring
qckbrnfx

Can someone start up a fund to buy this and return it to Watterson? It seems like the right thing to do.
- mccrum
  
  Because Watterson doesn’t have the cash? I think if he wants it he’ll be able to make that happen.
  - qckbrnfx
    
    I’m sure he could probably afford it, but that’s still a pretty big chunk of cash. And I feel like it would be a great way for his fans to show our respect and appreciation.
- DevinC
  
  There’s someone else I’d prefer to have it even over Watterson. They live at 11 West 53rd Street in New York.
  - qckbrnfx
    
    Relevant: http://www.quickmeme.com/meme/5eic/
s2redux

Mark, you need some Frazz. Random sample: Fibonacci Sequins.
- huskerdont
  
  Frazz is great, as is Pearls Before Swine. I think it’s just the nostalgia that makes us believe that nothing can be as good as Calvin and Hobbes, the Far Side, and Bloom County.
  
  I *think*. Sometimes I’m not so sure.
My Ocean

Basset should just elope.
- mccrum
  
  That had been my thought as well. Smaller wedding, keep the strip. And if the partner doesn’t get it, they might not be the right person…
- franko
  
  “bassett elope”?
  good one. : D
DrewSRQ

There’s a charming unofficial “sequel” to Calvin & Hobbes, called “Hobbes & Bacon” that takes place 26 years later that you can view at the link, below…

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2933120/posts
DWmW

Bill Watterson lives down the street from me. I know how reclusive he is, so I have never told him how much I LOVE C&H, and what joy that strip brought me over the years. If you’re reading this, Bill, know that your neighbors are fans — and do their best to respect your privacy.
- http://dailygrail.com/ Red Pill Junkie
  
  Walk near his house wearing a tiger suit. He’ll get the message, even if he doesn’t acknowledge it ;)
- DevinC
  
  Or get a window decal for your truck that shows Calvin taking a whiz on something! That will tastefully show your respect.
  
  More seriously, I have to say I am in awe of your self-control and respect for Watterson’s privacy.
Gutierrez

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOIw-GodtcU&feature=related
Obligatory Lemon Demon on the subject of stalking Bill.
welcomeabored

Yet another bit of original artwork, by a beloved cartoonist, that I covet to the depths of my soul, and waaaaaay outta my price range. Sigh.
davecarroll

there’s gotta be something else you can sell brian.
benher

Maybe someone can clue me in. I know Watterson is a big reclusive, never let anyone cash in on C&H (Garfield, Paws Inc. style!) , rarely gives interviews, and was dismayed by the wizzing Calvin stickers… but I do find it surprising that he didn’t/doesn’t continue to produce some kind of art. His watercolor skills and adept renderings of nature are splendid… For someone who put so much of himself and his heart into those strips I find it unbelievable that he could walk away from the world of art completely.

Guess I’m just another forever longing fan.
mark

Bill the Cat is my favorite comic feline. *ACK* (but i do love Hobbes)
http://www.facebook.com/people/David-Szymanski/1413080495 David Szymanski

Baffles me when a single piece of art that has immense fan interest can command such a huge price tag when there’s obviously a pretty big stash waiting in Watterson’s vault. Same goes for a high-grade comic from the “age of collectors” that auctions off for thousands more than what anyone has ever paid for in the past. Manipulation, or just investors banking on a rarity?