Looking for Calvin and Hobbes: The Unconventional Story of Bill Watterson and His Revolutionary Comic Strip

by Nevin Martell

For ten years, Calvin and Hobbes was one the world's most beloved comic strips. And then, on the last day of 1995, the strip ended. Its mercurial and reclusive creator, Bill Watterson, not only finished the strip but withdrew entirely from public life. In Looking for Calvin and Hobbes, Nevin Martell sets out on a very personal odyssey to understand the life and career of the intensely private man behind Calvin and Hobbes. Martell talks to a wide range of artists and writers (including Dave Barry, Harvey Pekar, and Brad Bird) as well as some of Watterson's closest friends and professional colleagues, and along the way reflects upon the nature of his own fandom and on the extraordinary legacy that Watterson left behind. This is as close as we're ever likely to get to one of America's most ingenious and intriguing figures - and it's the fascinating story of an intrepid author's search for him, too.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Comics, Audiobook, Biography Memoir, Humor, History

247 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2009

About the author

Nevin Martell is a D.C.-based food, travel, and lifestyle writer whose work regularly appears in the Washington Post, Plate, Wine Enthusiast, and NPR’s blog “The Salt.”

He is the author of six books, including the memoir-misadventure "Freak Show Without a Tent: Swimming with Piranhas, Getting Stoned in Fiji and Other Family Vacations" (2014), "The Founding Farmers Cookbook: 100 Recipes for True Food & Drink" (2013) and the small-press smash "Looking for Calvin and Hobbes: The Unconventional Story of Bill Watterson and his Revolutionary Comic Strip" (2009).

When he can budget the time and money, he loves nothing more than traveling with his wife and son.

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

As someone who considers Calvin and Hobbes to be one of his very favorite things, I breezed through this biography with expectations that in retrospect I know had no business being so lofty. Anyone familiar with C&H knows that Bill Watterson has chosen not to be a public figure and has not bastardized his creation with countless knockoffs; it's part of the mystique of the strip which consequently has a purity that I assume is why so many people continue to revere it. So the idea that we needed a biography of its creator was a noble but inherently flawed endeavor.

The main problem with this book is its subject. How do you write a biography of someone who won't talk to you and has not provided a copious public record for you to wade through? Obviously, you then have to go to people who know Watterson, but even that proves frustrating here, since most of the interviewees either remark on how little they actually know Watterson or offer boilerplate "Watterson is a genius" praise. And no matter how well-intentioned it is, interviewing Watterson's mother unsettled me a bit.

As it is, Martell relies on what interviews Watterson has given to a handful of newspapers and the commentary he's offered in his books. But anyone who's reading this book is likely a C&H fan who owns the books and has seen these opinions already. Including them here doesn't illuminate Watterson as a subject; it just makes Martell a dutiful transcriber. There's also the writing style, which struck me as too conversational to really take seriously.

Ultimately, this book is a big-hearted but doomed hagiography of one of the most cherished artistic achievements of my generation. I applaud Martell for his efforts and I have no doubt his heart is in the right place, but I'm not sure I know anything about Watterson that I didn't know before.

[Erin the Avid Reader ⚜BFF's with the Cheshire Cat⚜ · Rating 2 out of 5]

I will say this...this book is packed with heart, passion, and years of research.

Also, this is one of the biggest let downs I think I've read in quite a while.

Doing a review for this book is difficult because I'm not quite sure what it was even supposed to BE. Yes, it WAS supposed to be about searching for a Bill Watterson and finding out why he decided to disappear.

However, that's not necessarily the vibe I got from this book at all.

The first half (actually, more like the first 75%), is about the stages of Watterson's life as a cartoonist and how he decided his didn't want his com syndicated, mass-produced, and dumbed down and/or downgraded from the masterpiece the comic strip already was. It was interesting to read about, yet parts get redundant after a while and you're just waiting for the sojourn to start.

The book has a LOT of interviews from cartoonists, comedians like Patton Oswalt (who was probably only interviewed by the author about the subject because Martell even admitted he was an Oswald fanboy), people who worked for the company who published his strip, and friends and relatives of Watterson.

A lot of these "interviews" are merely celebrities bowing to Watterson and proclaiming how he inspired them, which may have been more interested if they weren't only half a page long! Part of me thinks most of the people he interviewed in here were so he could brag to people how he had a chance to interview people like Brad Bird, Stephen Pastis, Richard Thompson, etc. They were interesting, but barely serve as foundations for searching for Bill Watterson.


When Martell FINALLY gets to looking for Watterson, the trip merely consists of taking a day trip to the cartoonist's home town, looking at a few old drawings by him in a library cache, and having a three-page interview with his mother covering information we got about Watterson near the VERY BEGINNING OF THE BOOK. Also, I think Martell cut the interview WAY, WAY too short. Out of all the people he interviewed, he said the one with Watterson's mother was the longest. Didn't it occur to him that the relative who knew most about Watterson shared a plethora of information about him and maybe other people would be interested in knowing since this is a BOOK ABOUT FINDING AND KNOWING ABOUT BILL WATTERSON?!?!?

Argh! I can safely say I really didn't like this book. I rated it two stars because I do believe Martell was dedicated to this project and the mini bio about Watterson was interesting to me (I am after all a Calvin and Hobbes enthusiast).

I know I didn't like this book but...I can't really say I wouldn't recommend it to other people. It may suit others who are looking for a quick read, but for me, it felt very incomplete and abridged. A big NO-NO for me.

[Vonia · Rating 2 out of 5]

One chapter in, I already realized that I was to be greatly disappointed. Watterson's secret life was no more illuminated two hundred forty pages later... I suppose the author did warn us in the foreword that this was a story about not only Watterson, Calvin, & Hobbes, but also about himself.... & that could not be any more true.

This was a story about one man's self-discovery, with (decently well) researched facts about the comic strip scattered around with quotes diligently collected from various interviews published elsewhere, published & sold as an unauthorized biography of Watterson.

... Not that I hold that against the author... I wish I could earn money (however little) writing about personal endeavors.

That being said, it was unnecessarily long, with insinuations of a possible interview with Watterson inserted in various chapters, almost as if the author knew he would have a hard time keeping readers interested. Alas, the author does essentially state in the foreword that this interview never occurs. Unfortunately, he doesn't say it outright, so readers are left thinking that maybe...

The only reason this is not rated as one star is because although I didn't like it, there was enough information and/or research included to make this readable.

I expected much more... it was pretty much, as I have already said, a self-discovery story with information the author simply put together from various other sources... The only new information unique to this manuscript was an interview with... Wait for it... Watterson's mother. Which, of course, revealed nothing even noteworthy.

[Michael Haydel · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I first found out about Looking for Calvin and Hobbes (from a BoingBoing post), I knew instantly that it was something that I wanted to get my hands on. Consequently, I pre-ordered the book immediately, and waited over 4 months for it to reach me. I was in the middle of another book that I really wasn't in to, so it was easy for me to quit reading that (Desolation Road, FWIW), and start in on Looking for Calvin and Hobbes.

I approached the book much like I do cupcakes: I was really excited to dig in to it, but I was hesitant because I knew that I'd be done with it before I realized it. It was with that in mind that I began reading, telling myself that I'd pace myself, and enjoy the journey.

And enjoy the journey I did. Martell does a fine job bringing his quest to seek out the man behind Calvin and Hobbes to the pages of the book and before readers' eyes. A quest that, while it may not have gone *exactly* as he wanted it to, still ultimately yielded some incredible results.

Most everyone knows how Watterson pretty much swore off any publicity to an even higher degree after he finished the strip than when he was actually actively drawing it, but what I never really knew much about was how the strip came to be, and Martell gives ample background information on just how Calvin and Hobbes was shaped into the bad-ass comic strip it became. From Watterson's humble beginnings drawing one-off panels for his HS paper, or early (and relatively quick) career as a political cartoonist, looking back and the events leading up to the strip's publishing, and thinking about all that had to happen in order for it to take place, it's a miracle that Calvin and Hobbes even made it to the comics page. But man, what an impact it had on a wide range of people.

Martell also includes many tidbits from interviews he had with a multitude of Watterson's contemporaries, including the artists behind Outpost, Garfield, and a host of others (honestly, I just can't remember all of them!). It was amazing to hear just how many artists had so much respect for Watterson, and how the vast majority of his peers also felt like that they wished Watterson had been just a bit more acknowledging and receptive of their respect and praise. Ultimately though, it becomes apparent as Martell begins to piece together the enigma that is Bill Watterson, that that sort of "static" was really just superfluous to Watterson; he didn't need that to get by, and never set out to garner it in the first place. He was just "born with a pencil in his hand", to paraphrase an interview with someone close to Bill (no spoilers!), and cartooning was what he loved, and he did that - for 10 years, until he decided it wasn't for him anymore, at which point he moved on, and shied away from even coming in contact with anything that reminded him of that.

So, I came away from my reading of this book with a new found respect for Bill Watterson, a respect that I know I didn't have or realize I could have when I was consuming every single Calvin and Hobbes strip and book collection I could get my hands on when I was younger. I got a better sense of why Watterson shunned licensing and merchandising offers, turned down movie deals, and hardly flinched when big names came to him wanting to collaborate. I got a better sense of how Watterson's childhood and formative years (what little is known about them, that is; needless to say, Martell put on his sleuthing hat to ferret out as much as he could) played into what he did with his life after Calvin and Hobbes. And, I got a better sense of what not only his peers, but those closest to him (friends, editor, etc.) had to say about the man who gave us Calvinball, the Transmogrifier, Spaceman Spiff, and countless other morsels of comic-y goodness. I also have respect for Martell, for tackling such a mysterious subject as Bill Watterson, and allowing the reader to live vicariously through him during his journey.

All in all, this book was a wonderful experience, albeit a quick one, that I never felt like was bogged down with filler one bit.

Just like I like my cupcakes.

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

2024 - Listened. 3rd time. Love it. Love C&H. Watterson is the greatest.

2023 - Read again. Still great.

I think this is a really a great exercise in appreciation. Of one of the most important American artists ever. You can’t please everyone, though...Bill Watterson taught us that, among so many other things.

[Bob Redmond · Rating 2 out of 5]

Martell's book--somewhere between breathless fanzine and good high-school journalism--tells the story of the brilliant "Calvin and Hobbes" comic strip and its creator Bill Watterson.

Watterson is notoriously reclusive and sometimes antagonistic to his colleagues, so the premise--find Bill Watterson and tell his story--was noble. Unlike Michael Moore, Werner Herzog, or Herman Melville, however, Martell is not able to carry off this story of mythic absence. Instead of taking a cue from the strip's hero Calvin, who would create elaborate fantasies to explain a missing homework assignment, Martell simply shows us his empty hands and tries to fill space by quoting previously published material.

It is also lamentable, if legally understandable, that there are no reproductions of any comic strips in this book. For a greater artist, that might present yet another opportunity, but Martell passes it by. As a collection of the known facts about Bill Watterson, this book does a service. There are also a few worthy quotes from other cartoonists (each of which Martell uses numerous times), but not a lot of new information about the comics community.

Calvin and Hobbes was a sui generis phenomenon--Watterson wrote, drew, and colored all his strips by himself, didn't participate in many industry events or conversations (except to lob figurative hand grenades about the perils of selling out), and ended the strip at the height of its popularity. None of these things diminish the genius of the work; in fact they are inseparable from it. The achievement of Martell's book is to remind us of the self-contained perfection of the original, and that the only way to experience it, at least so far, is to read that ur-text.

*

WHY I READ THIS BOOK: I grew up in Russell, Ohio, which is the town next door to Chagrin Falls--the town where Bill Watterson grew up. Because Russell consisted of a stop light and a convenient store, we spent a lot of time in Chagrin. My sisters worked at the famous Popcorn Shoppe, my brother worked at the local department store, my "odd jobs" enterprises as a 13-year old took me to various yards and basements in the town. And we all used the local library and local cinema before it got torn down.

A few years ago my brother got me the giant, fabulous, amazing "Complete Calvin and Hobbes." As I read it I realized that one of the drawings was a perfect rendition of Chagrin's Main Street, complete with the old bandstand. I called my brother to find out if he knew why that was. "Bill Watterson grew up there!" he said. I couldn't believe it--no wonder I had such an affinitiy for that strip: its bare winter trees, the toboggan rides, the lakes and days of nothing to do but get into trouble.

My brother got me a signed copy of Nevin Martell's book for Christmas this past year. Its shortcomings as literature were more than balanced by its inclusion of some stories of the librarians at the Chagrin Falls branch library and other familiar locales that I love so well.

[Jim McDonnell · Rating 2 out of 5]

An undemanding hagiography written at undergraduate level with minimal evident research, and with little or nothing new to add to the legend that is Calvin and Hobbes - at least for the long-time reader of the strip.

An immediate give-away is the total lack of photographic research or cartoons to illustrate the story being told. In a biography of a cartoonist?!

The thing with Watterson, as any lover of Calvin and Hobbes will tell you, is that he's been notoriously private and near-reclusive since C&A began. So any biography of the man is going to rely on the same minimal set of already published facts: Watterson's forewords to some of the collections, the vanishingly few interviews or media articles. So Nevin Martell's book, which starts with good intentions and an undoubted love of his subject, has to rely on regurgitating these old stories, and falling back on a writing style which increasingly makes the author (Martell, not Watterson) and his futile search for new facts the subject of the book - not unlike the stuff Dave Gorman made so successful in 'Are You Dave Gorman'.

Long story short, it was a quick, undemanding, uninformative read. If you're new to C&A, then this stuff might be new and therefore interesting. But then it's unlikely you'd pick up a biography of Watterson anyway.

2/5 stars, and I think I was being generous.

[Tripp · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is not good. DO NOT READ.

You learn almost nothing new about Watterson that you wouldn't already know if you read all the collections. Most of the post-Calvin "revelations" come from stuff that was already published in the C&H 10th Anniversary book and the new hardcover retrospective. He got no reprint rights to strips, so be spends a lot of time DESCRIBING strips in the book, which is totally lame. Then, he just goes off the rails towards the end and spends and entire chapter interviewing random people he likes, using C&H as an excuse to talk to comedians and actors and other people like that.

SPOILER ALERT -- he gets no interview with Watterson.

Add to this a lot of hackneyed freshman-English-level analysis of Watterson through some of the strips common themes, and you've got a real non-page-turner.

If you were at ALL interested in this book, let me save you some time with the interesting things that are in there that are not available somewhere else:

Watterson spent a lot of time in college replicating a Sistene Chapel painting on the ceiling of his dorm room.

He started out as a political cartoonist.

Now he paints all the time.

That's it! Now don't read this crappy book.

[Mac · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was slightly disappointed after reading this book. (Okay, maybe more than slightly.) I wanted more commentary from other artists, and less quotes from Watterson's essays in his previously published books. I mean, dang gina, Martell quotes Watterson more than he quoted anyone else...I've read what Watterson has to say already...I want more outside opinion.

The book totes itself as a journey to find and meet with Watterson...but in reality, it seems Martell just made lots of phone calls leading to short interviews, and made a single trip to Chagrin Falls, OH, where Watterson grew up.

That's not a journey. That's making phone calls, and going on a day trip.

(Yeah, I'm a little bitter. But only because I just didn't get anything "new" out of this book. Martell just kind of talkes about everything fans of Watterson already know about him, except for maybe his early cartooning days, which was fairly interesting.)

Also, I have a very hard time believing this book will be of any interest to someone who isn't already interested in the life of Watterson and the choices he;s made to lead a highly private life.

[Justin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nevin Martell is neither an exceptional writer nor an intrepid journalist. The author of a couple airplane-gift-store-quality pop music biographies, his skill involves tracking down information that has already been recorded, and streamlining it into a highly readable format. As such, his Looking for Calvin and Hobbes is a couple hundred pages of highly readable information about the comic strip's creator, Bill Watterson.

Like many people who read their local newspaper's comic page in the mid-'80s and mid-'90s, I absolutely adore Calvin and Hobbes. I kept stacks of the anthologies by my bed as a kid, and read each one again and again and again. As an adult I've joined the ranks of the contingent that maintains Watterson's strip was more than just a series of fabulously entertaining cartoons, but a strange, beautiful hybrid of artful drawing, literate dialog, and philosophical expression. To fully complete the cliche, the strip was a true masterpiece, and I'm pretty sure Watterson was/is a genius. He was also, like many geniuses, obsessive, difficult, and even, Martell's book suggests, downright mean.

Watterson's almost militantly reclusive nature is a well known quirk amongst C & H enthusiasts, as is his relentless refusal to license his characters and therefore reap the extremely lucrative financial rewards from the merchandising circuit. Martell's book reinforces this fact, providing anecdotal evidence culled from the rare interviews Watterson has given, and some even rarer public appearances (at some of which Watterson came off as downright insane.) The best parts of Looking for Calvin and Hobbes happen when Martell does what his publishing history suggests he is good at doing: synthesizing biographical information about Watterson. A third of the book or more is spent fleshing out the details of Watterson's life, and anyone who loves the strip and is interested in its Salinger-like creator's persona will be fascinated to learn the details behind his rise to fame and fortune.

But alas, one-third of a book does not a book make. Martell tries to hook you for the long haul from the prologue, structuring his forthcoming tale around a personal quest to score an interview with Watterson. But considering Watterson is the same guy who turned down a meeting with Steven Spielberg to discuss a movie version of Calvin and Hobbes—somehow the odds don't seem to favor the significantly less important Martell. This reader certainly felt some skepticism regarding Martell's chances and sure enough, he never comes close, padding his book instead with ruminations on Watterson's influences, quotes from other cartoonists who admire the man's work, and a description of his own journey to Watterson's hometown in Ohio. He's neither a comics historian nor much of a scholar, and I found myself not caring whatsoever what he had to say about the strip itself and about the evolution of newspaper comics.

What Looking for Calvin and Hobbes could have used was a fearless and even disreputable journalist. Someone who would have had no problem staking out Watterson's house, paparazzi-style, frequenting his local haunts, and ultimately at least scoring an INTERACTION with the guy. The namby-pamby Martell can't even bring himself to track down Watterson's address, seemingly scared to even go near the guy. Instead he writes letters and sends emails to the guy's publisher, who promptly and repeatedly rejects him to the surprise of no one. Finally, Martell somehow lucks his way into an interview with Watterson's mother, a moment he describes as "the culmination of two years' worth of phone calls, emails, letters and prostrations to the void." Then he proceeds to lob at her the softest puffballs ever transcribed from a tape recorder. We learn Watterson (gasp!) put some childhood memories into the strip, and that (gasp-gasp!) his mother supported his decision to end the strip prematurely (resulting from years fighting his syndicate's licensing department and exhaustion from creating true artwork day in and day out, under deadline) but "was sad because I enjoyed it so much."

Some questions Martell COULD have asked are,

Why is your son so crazy?

What the hell does he DO nowadays besides sit back and collect millions from his book royalties?

Who is this "wife" character he claims to have and what is she like?

But those are for another book I suppose, written by someone who knows what they are doing.

[Mitch · Rating 2 out of 5]

'Looking for Calvin and Hobbes' would have been better titled "Admiring Calvin and Hobbes, and Trying to Break Into Bill Watterson's Well-Protected and Should-be-Respected Privacy". It's not as snappy, but it's a whole lot more accurate.

The reader, myself included, is complicit in this of course.

Many people who loved the comic strip are curious to know why Bill stopped drawing the immensely popular duo, why he doesn't want to talk about it and why he never cashed in on merchandizing the two as so many have done before and continue to do.

Bill doesn't want to tell you, but Nevin Martell does. He also wants to scoop the world by nailing an interview that Watterson has refused everyone for decades. Does he manage it?

Let's put it this way: reading this book is like looking at a ghost. It's all peripheral vision if it's there at all. You don't see things in sharp focus but you sure do get a lot of input from those who claim to have seen him, just about everything that's ghost-written, and the author's speculations that attempt to fill in the void where the main character isn't standing.

I can't definitely say this, but it feels like you won't learn much that will satisfy you that you couldn't have read casually elsewhere.

The end of Calvin and Hobbes was and remains disappointing, so I suppose it's fitting that a book about their creator should be also. Good for Bill to preserve his privacy and shame on us for trying to take that away from him.

[Jill H. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am one of the millions of people who adore Calvin and Hobbes and am one of the millions who grieved when Watterson decided to discontinue the strip. I have all the trade paperback books and periodically get one off the shelf since they can be read many times and still seem new. So, when I spotted this book, I jumped for joy since I was looking forward to learning a little more about the rather mysterious Watterson and the whole Calvin and Hobbes phenomenon. Sad to say, that didn't happen. The author fills it with Watterson quotes of which most fans are already familiar from the C/H book forwards written by Watterson, as well as excerpts from old interviews and newspaper articles. There is absolutely nothing new here and I was sorely disappointed. Additionally, the writing style is awkward, so basically it was a bust for me.

[Ron Davidson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I tried to like this book, but I just felt "meh." I'm not a big fan of biographies, and now I remember why. The enjoyment of someone's work doesn't necessarily improve by learning about his life. While I understand the author's desire to learn more about a creative genius who has maintained a private life, ultimately, I didn't see the point. Not to say that there wasn't any value in the work -- just that it might have been better as a feature article in a Sunday magazine section, e.g., rather than a full-length book. Learning about the art and life of cartoonists was of some interest.

I did finish the book with a greater admiration for Bill Watterson, a man who has remained true to his principles and moral outlook, despite myriad offers, loaded with money, dangled in front of him. He has remained an artist, when others wanted him to be a huckster, and is apparently happy for it.

[Pete · Rating 2 out of 5]

Much like the author, I too have never interviewed Bill Watterson. I also love Calvin and Hobbes and wish that I knew more about Bill Watterson. I'm also needlessly inserting myself into this review, in lieu of new information about Bill Watterson. I've been to Ohio, too. The difference between the author and myself is that I've never written a book about how I couldn't get an interview with Bill Watterson, only this goodreads review that I didn't interview Watterson for either. Let's all go read The Complete Calvin and Hobbes again and go exploring the way Watterson intended. And leave Watterson alone, please.

[Nancy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hate when a nonfiction author presents words and thoughts as those of the subject when the subject never said it and no one can know someone’s thoughts without being told. Either write honest nonfiction or write fiction.

I think the author could have found some angle regarding the impact of Calvin and Hobbs instead of plowing ahead with a book that Watterson did NOT want and WOULD NOT participate in. Watterson “[was] not sure what the point is about talking about Calvin and Hobbs again.”

Watterson also, in a discussion with a friend, “took the position that the art is all that matters and who cares what the artist’s story is. As in, you can look at a Rembrandt and appreciate a Rembrandt without knowing a single thing about Rembrandt’s life.” I get that it can be interesting to know how an artist lived and what they experienced or even events that may have led to the creation of a work, but it isn’t necessary.

I question the friendship when the friend is willing to share all they know about a person when the person wants to remain private.

This was the deciding factor to stop reading, though. Only 43 pages in. The author states, “Each time he drew him was a confirmation for Watterson that he was on to something.” Pfft. When an author decides what a thing meant or the thoughts of the subject when they have NO idea of the truth because the subject will not be interviewed and never made that comment and had it recoded somewhere, I know I’m reading a bunch of hooey and I’m done. If the author wants to ‘suppose’ such a thing, fine, but it stretches my patience too far.

(Also influenced by family members who disliked the book 🤷‍♀️)

[Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great read! My being a huge fan of Calvin and Hobbes and Watterson surely helps. The book is written from the heart of a huge fan. Ok, a larger fan than me as he went to such lengths to research this book. Unbelievable. Every page was interesting and easy to read. A pleasure to read. Heck, I want to be friends with this guy! Nevin Martell.

The only problem I had with the book was the back cover! A few quotes are there to get you fired up to buy the book. Fine. But The LA Times Book Review quote, decided to give away one of the mysteries of reading the book. Yes, a huge asshole decided to ruin a bit of it. Another ass decided to put it on the back cover. I’m going to have to message Nevin and make sure he didn’t pick that quote or our long-future, improbable, possible, friendship is over!

[Trin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good way to illuminate the problems with this biography of Bill Watterson and the (wonderful! glorious!) Calvin and Hobbes comics is to compare it to another literary biography I read this year, Laura Miller's The Magician's Book. Miller makes it clear up front that her book is going to be partly a story of C.S. Lewis' life and partly the story of her evolving relationship with the Narnia books. The two elements are balanced seamlessly, and both are illuminating. Martell, on the other hand, doesn’t really commit to making his book partially about his own experiences with Watterson’s work, so when he does reference his own feelings, they seem out of place. Worse, he sets up this whole fake drama about how he might just get to conduct an actual interview with Bill Watterson!!!!...which is of course B.S., because he won’t, and the reader knows he won’t: Bill Watterson doesn’t give interviews. In many ways Miller had more access to C.S. Lewis in the writing of her book, and Lewis is dead.

Which is not to say that a book about Watterson shouldn’t be written: though limited, the information Martell was able to dig up about him is interesting, and the enigma that he presents is potentially fascinating. So I really wish Martell could have come up with a different approach to this material. One that involved accepting that no interview would be forthcoming, and so instead chose to approach Watterson from another angle. Some real literary analysis, maybe? All of the best discussion of the actual Calvin and Hobbes strips (which are totally worthy of an in-depth academic look) comes from Watterson himself, with Martell simply quoting from the artist’s mini essays in The Calvin and Hobbes 10th Anniversary Book; I felt like I was experiencing severe déjà vu while reading certain sections. If only Martell could have presented what little background information about Watterson is known, and then used that as a jumping off point for the story of his own relationship with the comics and some real analysis about what the strip means—to him, and in a larger sense. That is a potentially fascinating book.

It’s just not this book, alas.

[Kerri · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have loved Calvin and Hobbes for as long as I can remember, but I never really cared about learning more about Bill Watterson himself, simply because I generally don't care about learning more about any celebrity. Reading this book taught me how private he is and I found the premise of it rather rude in that light. The writer himself comes off as alternating between hero-worshipping/fanboying over Watterson and throwing subtly (or not so subtle) angry jabs at him with "you should have let me interview you" types of comments, like he's saying "look how well I understand your art! You should talk to me because I am clearly so much better than the other people who have tried to interview you!" If I was Watterson, I would have ignored this guy too.

Then you have him using the word "opined" so many times I wanted to scream in frustration, how incredibly rude he was to a few people (especially Jim Davis), and definitely not having enough material to fill his quota and it just grated on me. He repeats quotes and then throws in so many random things that really have nothing to do with Watterson or his comic, and near the end I definitely got a taste of the "I have absolutely nothing to opine so here I go on a random filler about how I don't know how to end this book" vibe reminiscent of a few throw-away things I wrote for English class in high school.

Also, he is a journalist at heart and something about journalist writing just irks me so, so much. I was listening to this and while I usually sit at 1.25-1.5 with audiobooks, I bumped this one up to 2.25 to get it over with faster. I didn't want to DNF it because it's for a book group.

My recommendation is to skip this book, go read old Calvin and Hobbes comics instead.
And leave Bill Watterson alone already.

[Berslon Pank · Rating 1 out of 5]

Here's how I sum up this review: Skip this book and read Exploring Calvin and Hobbes.

I liked this book for the few little bits of of information about cartooning and Watterson's career that I found in the book.

Otherwise this book is incorrectly subtitled. It should be called "Looking for Calvin and Hobbes: But much more about Nevin Martell." I wasn't looking for a lot about Nevin Martell and now I'm not glad that I read it. His journey to create this book was uninteresting, his conversational tone distracting, and his jokes not very funny.

There were also times that he delved so far into Watterson's life that I felt uncomfortable. Why is it important to know that after the strip ended Watterson adopted a daughter and her name? And even if that is germane to the topic, delving further into it and trying to find out if the Wattersons kept their daughter's pre-adoption name or changed it themselves to perhaps honor a minor Peanuts character just feels like a gross invasion of the life of someone who does not want to be examined.

If Martell has as much respect for Watterson as he says he does then how can he ignore all the signs from friends and family the Watterson doesn't want this book to happen and is a bit disgusted by the prospect of it. Watterson doesn't owe his fans, any of them, this book. He doesn't owe us more Calvin and Hobbes. He doesn't owe us his story. We got something wonderful and should be able to sit with that.

Skip this book and read Exploring Calvin and Hobbes because that has the big ol interview with Watterson that this book never gets. We get it on Watterson's terms. We owe the guy that much.

[Mason · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's pretty inexcusable for a book about a comic strip and its creator to include zero images of said creator's work. Also, Martell's gratuitous insertions of himself into the narrative, ranging from "I felt creepy" stalking Watterson's childhood home to "my wife would rather be listening to Arcade Fire or TV On The Radio" are incredibly unnecessary and distracting to boot. I understand Bill Watterson was a difficult subject to tackle, and Martell does an admirable job of reconstructing parts of Watterson's life. Perhaps the film "Adaptation" inspired the author to make his own struggle to track down this elusive subject a part of the story. But it doesn't work.

Seriously, not having any artwork basically ruins this book. A work like this is journalistic in nature and the Internet is already filled with images of Calvin and Hobbes, as well as Watterson's earlier work. The "fair use" doctrine of copyright law would easily allow reproduction of a handful of strips and images. I'm assuming the exclusion of artwork was not the author's decision, but it leaves a major gap in the project of this book that cannot be filled with words.

[Rachel · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book never should have been published. The author didn't have access or permission enough to do it well. He talks about old strips and photographs but I am guessing he didn't have permission to publish we don't get to see the content he is discussing. There isn't one photograph or comic strip in the book. He is obviously reaching and using a lot filler. I stopped in the middle of a general discussion of how cartoonists get syndicated. I really don't care. This reminds me of one of my last minute hastily written college essays. I suspect it was well researched, unlike my papers, but there just wasn't enough content available. My professor would have told me to revise my thesis.

I knew nothing about Bill Watterson before reading this book, apparently because that is the way he wants it. If I had known that I would have respected the man's privacy and continued to just enjoy his strip letting them speak for myself. I would recommend the Essential Calvin and Hobbs or on of the other strip compilations instead. (My copies are falling apart).

[Craig Cote · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting story about the creation of Calvin and Hobbes. The only thing that could have made it sweeter was an interview with BW himself.

On one hand, I respect his desire to cut himself off from the public. On the other, I completely understand (and share) the public's desire to know more about the genesis of Calvin and Hobbes and about the man behind the comic. But it seems that we will never get complete closure. Time to reread the books and enjoy Calvin and Hobbes all over again. :)

[Hobart · Rating 3 out of 5]

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
---
Nevin Martell, like just about everyone who ever read him, is a Calvin and Hobbes fan -- what's more, he discovered the strip at the right age and was able to appreciate it as only a child can -- without being self-conscious about reading a comic strip and with devotion. Years later, when trying to write something more meaningful to him than another book about a pop star, he decides to write about that strip and its reclusive creator.

The reclusive part of that sentence is the key -- Watterson had (and has) pretty much dropped off the face of the earth as far as your typical person is concerned. A few select friends, business acquaintances and family members can get in touch with him, but no one else can. This isn't crippling to a book about his comic strips or himself, but it sure hampers it (especially because those people who can get in touch with him are just about as reticent as he is to talk about him or his work). Unencumbered by access to Watterson himself, and his perspective on his life and career was like, what his influences were, what made him make the creative decisions, etc. Martell dove into research -- things written about and by Watterson, archives of his previous work (when and where available) and interviews with colleagues, editors and the like.

In the kind of detail only a scholar or a fan can appreciate, Martell describes Watteron's childhood, college, and pre-Calvin and Hobbes career; then he discusses that comic strip -- major themes -- and its publishing history; Watterson's battle to keep control of the strip, its merchandising/licensing; then he describes Watterson's retirement. As much of that as he can, which isn't much. Following that, Martell focuses on things like the impact of Watterson on the industry, his relationships with other cartoonists and is influence on those who followed.

I wish he'd given us more (and maybe he gave us all he could, but I don't think so) from Watterson's contemporaries/those he influenced in the field of comics (or related fields -- he spoke with a novelist and Dave Barry, too). Martell spoke to many and gave us a lot of what he was told -- but I'd have appreciated more coming from professionals about Watterson's strengths, technique, stories -- whatever. Sure, it might have gotten a little redundant, but something tells me that it wouldn't have been too bad. These were my favorite parts of the book, and I could've listened to another hour of them easily.

I'm not convinced that I was ever as invested in Martell's journey as he seemed to think his readers would (should?) be -- and I'm okay with that. I know I tend to overshare here a tad myself -- so I understand the impulse. Or maybe I'm just callous, and everyone else got into it.

As far as Arthur's work narrating -- there's not a lot to say. This isn't a work of fiction where he can play with characters, pacing, and whatnot. It's a straightforward text and he does a capable job of reading it in a straightforward manner. I did have to remind myself a couple of times that I was listening to someone Martell's words rather than listening to him -- which I guess is a good thing.

It was a pleasant book, nothing too challenging -- and it reinvigorated an impulse to go read a collection or two of Watterson again on my part (and some of Larson's The Far Side, too -- I'm sure there's an interesting book to be written there, too). It's not a must-read, but it'll scratch an itch for those who have an interest in the subject.

[James · Rating 1 out of 5]

I never give one star reviews. Martell's cloying, sacharrine, and utterly empty writing filled me with contempt very early on. It is not just that he won't use just one cliche when a list of three will do. Or that he is convinced that he is the most fascinating of narrator's (he isn't). Or that he is doing ground-breaking scholarship and pavement pounding. It is that the thrill of reading Calvin & Hobbes and knowing about its creator, mysterious Kenyon College alumni Bill Watterson, is hindered so often by meandering and terrible judgement. Watterson's self-imposed silence and reclusivity ARE fascinating in a Salinger-esque way, of course. But Martell chooses to cobble together chapters with the thinnest and most un-interesting of threads with the goal of padding out a story that could have been a long magazine article to be sure. I mean, to be blunt, who gives a care what Mort Anderson thinks about Bill Watterson? And if your scholarship had stayed in the visitors' center of Chagrin Falls, Ohio and the Comic repository at Ohio State University, then you could have just dived in even deeper into the work, the charismatic and timeless appeal of the drawing and storytelling, instead of interviewing someone who went to high school with Watterson.

There is something underlying the whole premise that disturbs me. To call your book Looking for Calvin and Hobbes implies that your search is the most important thing in the world and that you need to "find" the author, a fool's errand to be sure. Finding Watterson would maybe sell Martell more books, obviously, but how does he square that selfish, solopsistic quest with the simultaneous respect for the artist who is working at the top of his powers and then chooses to end that work on his terms? And looking through the lens of 2025, it is impossible not to admire the singularity of the brilliance of Watterson's work and refusal to compromise his beliefs in the face of rapacious capitalism (I'm looking at you, Jim Davis and Garfield). We ARE better for not having a Calvin & Hobbes cartoon movie or animated series. Or deadening spin-off created by legions of unnamed cartoonist toiling unseen to keep the $$$ churning. I suspect that Watterson and his wife's decision to become parents is a part of his decision to walk away, but I am also happy to never know.

Calvin & Hobbes ended on December 31st, 1995, midway through my senior year in high school. I cut out their cartoons from the papers and saved them, even using them in 1997 for my Resident Advisor Door at Kenyon College in McBride, not Lewis Hall (Watterson's freshman residence). My sisters gifted me the 23 pound behemoth that included every cartoon ever written, and listening to this audiobook prompted me to go back and peruse its gilded pages. For that, I am grateful.

It is not my place to stand here and wonder what could have been. It is important to read the work given and marvel with appreciation at what was. How did Watterson transcend time to make a cartoon that captivated both me AND my children? How many works of art can do that? And why?

[Jordan Treece · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid biography of Bill Watterson and study of his amazing comic strip. Calvin and Hobbes is almost inarguably the greatest comic strip ever created. Watterson is famously private and has only shown a desire to keep C&H buried in the past. Watterson refused to be interviewed for the book - he has only given like 4 interviews since C&H first started. But the author got a lot of great information from many people very close to Watterson, including his mother.

The most interesting thing about the story is Watterson's refusal to allow anything except the sparest licensing of his characters. If you've ever seen C&H printed on a mug, it was a copyright violation. All of this makes you wonder why Watterson would take such a stance, especially since he could doubtlessly make millions, just like Jim Davis and Chuck Shultz did from licensing their comic characters. Watterson has true discipline. On the debate between artisic integrity versus sold-out commercialization, Watterson has decided to basically give no ground. It's easy to wish for more C&H. What if there was a movie? After all, Shultz's Peanuts have done that without compromising the heart of the characters. This brings me to my favorite little antecedent that appeared in the book: at the height of C&H's success, Steven Spielberg's people contacted Watterson's people about a potential movie, and when Watterson heard about it he said "why would I want to talk to Steven Spielberg?"

So clearly, there's a bit of insanity behind the genius that gave us C&H. But we can thank Watterson that the treasure we have in C&H will probably never be tarnished. At least here, we don't have to cringe like when we hear that Disney has plans to do another Narnia series. We don't have to see Hobbes go the way of Scooby-Doo, whose latest iteration is a crass adult show apparently packed with gratuitous sex and violence; and Scooby-Doo isn't even in it. So while there's a small twinge of regret that I'll never see more of C&H aside from what already exists, it's a huge relief that I'll never have to see Calvin grow up to be Charlie Brown's gay lover.

All we'll ever have is the comics, now mostly found in book form. I had collected all the books by age 14, and they really were the beginning of the fuller library I have today. I even have one C&H book in Portuguese. Reading this little book was nice to remember my love for C&H.

[Linds · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. I don't know what I expected/wanted from this book. (I only found it while searching for Calvin & Hobbes at my library.) It's weird for someone to try and offer so much "insight" into the comic strip with any input from the author, or without any allowed reproduction of the comics. If that's the case, perhaps he should have abandoned this idea.

Martell notes his love and "profound respect" for Bill Watterson, and then goes to all sorts of lengths to pry into aspects of his life -old teachers, friends, random people from his hometown, his brother, his mother. Nice effort, but it seems like if you respect someone (profoundly, even) then you can respect their wish for privacy. Something really doesn't fit.

I also felt like there was something off about Martell's writing style. The words didn't flow very naturally -like he'd systematically tried to craft each sentence, and thus lost all true personality. He talks about himself a lot, but since there's no genuine first person feel it has no impact.

I did enjoy the heaps of love other writers/artists gave to Calvin & Hobbes. They mentioned specific qualities to the strip that I'd never really thought about before, particularly in the drawing stage.

All in all, I'd advise against reading this. Bill Watterson is quoted heavily from the 10th Anniversary book, so why not just read that instead and enjoy some snazzy comic strips in the process?

[Todd · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book started out really bad, but thankfully it got better and had some mildly interesting bits. Feels like 2.5 stars but I’ll graciously round up to 3. I must add, the guy actually included 2 epilogues, and I just flat out didn’t listen to the second one because I was already emotionally done. Feels like he was really short on material (maybe because, spoiler, he never landed the interview) so much of the book felt like he was trying to stretch out what little material he had to reach perhaps some minimum threshold of what constitutes a “book”. Barely made it over the finish line! In more ways than one. I think I’ll go pull out a Calvin and Hobbes book….

[Sheryl G · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is no new information presented in this book, however the narrative style of the author makes the process of perusing old information enjoyable. The plot is non-existant and you learn more about the author than Bill Watterson, but that should be expected based on Watterson's preference for privacy.

[James Czlonka · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good, but falls short due to the actual unavailability of Watterson. Feels like a bit of a let down that he wasn't actually able to be interviewed for this, although I can see why. Was a good collection of information, but didn't go too much deeper than just collecting information that was already out there.

[Jett Love · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the story of an author who is loyal to his work. This is an awesome book.