Bill Watterson #3: Syndicate and Publishers

In Watterson’s telling, the fight with the Syndicate was David v Goliath. Goliath with its lawyers and money and binding legalese. David with a “pencil in hand and heart full of uncompromisable values”. Shades of grey v Black and White, as he famously captured in this strip:


 Not entirely true, writes Matthew Morgan. Merchandising could only work if the strip continued, if the creator didn’t publicly air grievances. Options Watterson did have. In fact, the Syndicate did worry he might abruptly quit.

 

Besides, as the Syndicate bosses showed Watterson, others were creating illegal and unauthorized Calvin and Hobbes merchandise anyway. At least by licensing it, Watterson could control the narrative, the format. Watterson still said No; and the Syndicate backed off. Even rewrote the terms of his contract.

~~

 

One of the almost unheard-of terms of the revised contract was the sabbatical (extended leave from work, for between 3 and 12 months). Why was it unheard of in comic strips?

 

One, imagine not publishing new strips for months and expecting publishers and readers to re-read old stuff and still be interested when the creator returned months later. Two, the publishers had to pay (again) to re-run older strips. Surely, most of them would just pull out and replace it with a new strip.

 

Regardless of the risks, Watterson went on sabbatical in May, 1991. For 9 months. Calvin and Hobbes was still much in demand when he returned.

~~

 

Watterson now demanded a radical change to the Sunday strip. Newspapers put specific sizes for Sunday strips, and even rules on number of panels, their sizes for Sunday. Watterson pushed against this existing constraint:

“(He wanted) “exclusively as a half-page feature with no panel restrictions”. The story (and not the commercial needs of the newspaper) would determine the shape of each Sunday strip.”

 

The publishing industry was furious. The man didn’t understand the publishing industry, the printing press limitations. They’d already paid for 9 months of re-runs, and now this “affront to both business and morality” from this “megalomaniac” who thought he could do whatever he wanted. Several threatened to cancel the strip.

 

Watterson stood firm. The Syndicate wasn’t sure if they could/should oppose him. In the end, Watterson got his way; and few newspapers cancelled – the strip was just too popular and he could draw the Sunday strips the way he wanted.

~~

 

But it came at a price. A fixed format allowed comic strips to be a bit formula-like. While constrictive to creativity, they required less effort because one began to think in those patterns. No more. Coming up with new Sunday strips took more and more effort and time! Watterson was soon burning out. So he took his second sabbatical in April, 1994.

 

When he returned in Jan, 1995, he knew he was done with Calvin and Hobbes. The last strip ever published had a lot of empty space: 


White, empty, new. Symbolic. Also, just like how he had restored his college dorm ceiling after wiping out his version of the Creation of Adam.

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