Yesterday, adubman said: “Great Peanuts strips. I’m noticing Bill Watterson had many similar storylines to Charles Schulz and wonder if that was an influence or something else. Any thoughts?Hi adubman. Also please see Grog’s reply from last night, which includes some information that I didn’t know. I’ll try to elaborate here briefly. :>)
Bill Watterson said that Peanuts was the main comic strip that had influenced him as he was growing up. That is why I like to find parallels between his work and Peanuts, and share them with other Calvin and Hobbes fans here. But even when Watterson used something that was similar to Charles Schulz’s work, it seems like he always tried to give it an original twist.One thing to keep in mind is that Charles Schulz drew Peanuts for nearly 50 years – a huge output of about 18,000 strips – and he was breaking new ground by having kids and a dog do a lot of things they had never done before in comic strips. This made it difficult for cartoonists who came after him to seem as original as Schulz (especially if they were drawing strips about kids and animals), because Schulz had already “used up” so many ideas and themes over so many years.So, there is a sense in which Schulz’s originality was easier because he was first. At the same time, it was harder because it required so much insight for him to envision the comics themselves in a radically new way, and to keep transforming them further as time went on. Bill Watterson benefited from Schulz’s genius, but he also added his own brand of genius to the mix.Like Charles Schulz, and unlike so many other cartoonists, Bill Watterson drew every line of every comic strip himself, without using any assistants. But unlike Schulz, he also used very complex artwork for some of his backgrounds.Watterson’s daily strips had a taller format than Peanuts, giving him more room for backgrounds. And following his first sabbatical (the end of which we are hopefully approaching), the syndicate began allowing him to have total freedom with modifying the shapes and sizes of the individual panels in his Sunday strips.In Peanuts, Snoopy is a mixture of fantasy and “reality” (more reality in the earlier years). But in Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson takes the interplay of fantasy and reality to an entirely new level.Like Charles Schulz, Bill Watterson grew up in the Midwest, and his comic strips include the four seasons.Unlike Charles Schulz, Bill Watterson allowed almost no marketing of Calvin and Hobbes items, despite repeated pleas from the syndicate and his readers, who especially wanted a stuffed Hobbes.Like Charles Schulz, Bill Watterson was highly introverted and wanted to avoid the public spotlight – even more so than Schulz.Unlike Charles Schulz, Bill Watterson’s last name did not begin with an “S.”I could go on…….In 1999, Bill Watterson said, “Charles M. Schulz is in a league all his own. He was a hero to me as a kid and his influence on my work and life is long and deep. I suspect most cartoonists would say something similar.”Nevertheless, I think that most of us would agree that Bill Watterson is also in a class by himself. He was standing on the shoulders of a giant, but he was also a giant.(This concludes part 1 of 17)
Yesterday, adubman said: “Great Peanuts strips. I’m noticing Bill Watterson had many similar storylines to Charles Schulz and wonder if that was an influence or something else. Any thoughts?Hi adubman. Also please see Grog’s reply from last night, which includes some information that I didn’t know. I’ll try to elaborate here briefly. :>)
Bill Watterson said that Peanuts was the main comic strip that had influenced him as he was growing up. That is why I like to find parallels between his work and Peanuts, and share them with other Calvin and Hobbes fans here. But even when Watterson used something that was similar to Charles Schulz’s work, it seems like he always tried to give it an original twist.One thing to keep in mind is that Charles Schulz drew Peanuts for nearly 50 years – a huge output of about 18,000 strips – and he was breaking new ground by having kids and a dog do a lot of things they had never done before in comic strips. This made it difficult for cartoonists who came after him to seem as original as Schulz (especially if they were drawing strips about kids and animals), because Schulz had already “used up” so many ideas and themes over so many years.So, there is a sense in which Schulz’s originality was easier because he was first. At the same time, it was harder because it required so much insight for him to envision the comics themselves in a radically new way, and to keep transforming them further as time went on. Bill Watterson benefited from Schulz’s genius, but he also added his own brand of genius to the mix.Like Charles Schulz, and unlike so many other cartoonists, Bill Watterson drew every line of every comic strip himself, without using any assistants. But unlike Schulz, he also used very complex artwork for some of his backgrounds.Watterson’s daily strips had a taller format than Peanuts, giving him more room for backgrounds. And following his first sabbatical (the end of which we are hopefully approaching), the syndicate began allowing him to have total freedom with modifying the shapes and sizes of the individual panels in his Sunday strips.In Peanuts, Snoopy is a mixture of fantasy and “reality” (more reality in the earlier years). But in Calvin and Hobbes, Bill Watterson takes the interplay of fantasy and reality to an entirely new level.Like Charles Schulz, Bill Watterson grew up in the Midwest, and his comic strips include the four seasons.Unlike Charles Schulz, Bill Watterson allowed almost no marketing of Calvin and Hobbes items, despite repeated pleas from the syndicate and his readers, who especially wanted a stuffed Hobbes.Like Charles Schulz, Bill Watterson was highly introverted and wanted to avoid the public spotlight – even more so than Schulz.Unlike Charles Schulz, Bill Watterson’s last name did not begin with an “S.”I could go on…….In 1999, Bill Watterson said, “Charles M. Schulz is in a league all his own. He was a hero to me as a kid and his influence on my work and life is long and deep. I suspect most cartoonists would say something similar.”Nevertheless, I think that most of us would agree that Bill Watterson is also in a class by himself. He was standing on the shoulders of a giant, but he was also a giant.(This concludes part 1 of 17)