Bill Watterson, the cartoonist that brings us “Calvin and Hobbs,” has made a surprise return in the comics last week.
Stephan Pastis, another cartoonist for the strip “Pearls Before Swine,” announced on his blog that Bill Watterson helped in the production of three “Pearls Before Swine” strips last week. Those three cartoons can be found online here, here and here. They were published June 4-6.
Watterson has not been seen in a comic strip since 1995 and has only produced public art twice in the most recent years.
According to USA Today, Pastis wrote that he had published a cartoon weeks ago in which a character pretended to be Watterson to impress a female. He sent the cartoon to Watterson, thanking him for his influence. Watterson responded, expressing an interest in working together and that is just what happened.
Pastis' blog post of Watterson says: "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?" He was in utter awe that the cartoonist wanted to work with him, even talk to him.
According to NY Daily News, Watterson made Pastis promise that he wouldn’t reveal his identity until after the cartoons were published. Pastis described it as one of the hardest secrets he’s ever had to keep in his life.
There were some technical difficulties, according to Pastis, but he says that “it was the highlight of his career.”
“Stephan kept setting up these situations that required more challenging drawings ... so I had to work a lot harder than I had planned to! It was a lot of fun,” Watterson said.