How cool is this?
Artist Stephan Pastis, like other comic strip artists, sometimes makes reference to Bill Watterson’s much-loved and long-gone strip “Calvin and Hobbes.”
Pastis and the notoriously private Watterson struck up an email friendship recently and that led to Watterson actually drawing a couple of days worth of Pastis’ strip, “Pearls Before Swine.”
One of those days’ strips is above.
Here’s Pastis’ blog explaining how it happened.
I’m not sure how I never saw this until now.
Every few days, I mourn the passing, in 1995, of Bill Watterson’s “Calvin and Hobbes” newspaper comic strip.
I post Calvin strips every once in a while here.
But not until today did I see a reference to “Hobbes and Bacon,” a totally unofficial sequel to Watterson’s great work.
In 2011, the web-based comic “Pants Are Overrated” did a series of four “Hobbes and Bacon” strips that visits, more than two decades later, the household of grown-up Calvin and Susie, their daughter Francis Bacon and, of course, tiger Hobbes.
The strips are wonderfully clever and nostalgic and guaranteed to bring a tear or two to your eye even while they’re making you smile.
And in light of the many, many, many bootleg and offensive rip-offs of Calvin, I’m guessing the famously reclusive Watterson wouldn’t terribly mind these tributes to his characters.
Because I need some Calvin and Hobbes today.
Thank you Bill Watterson.
Here’s the home of Calvin and Hobbes on the web.
keithroysdon 