>I-is that a piece of merchandising enjoyable by fans of my characters and work? IM GOING INSAAAAAAAAANNNNE
 It's All Fucked Shirt $22.14 |
 Ape Out Shirt $21.68 |
It's All Fucked Shirt $22.14 |
>I-is that a piece of merchandising enjoyable by fans of my characters and work?
I respect Watterson deciding to disallow the merchandising of Calvin & Hobbs. It's ultimately his decision. Just like I respect Jim Davis' decision to sell out with Garfield.
But what I don't get are the people so angry that a guy sticks to his morals - especially ones that are neither outright good nor evil. Why are you so mad that Bill doesn't want to have Hobbs pluchies or Calvin & Hobbs video games out there? You have the comics already, isn't that enough?
>You have the comics already, isn't that enough?
No, I want more.
>Garfield is... consistent
(Bill Watterson, circa 1988)
I feel more annoyed at him for ending the strip so early, or rather making the strip so limited that he had no choice but to end it early. (That is, he mostly stopped introducing new characters or running gags after a certain point, wouldn't even allow Calvin's parents to interact with anyone else; the strip was frozen at a point where most strips are trying to find ways to expand.) I remember even at the time being frustrated that he mostly stopped doing long storylines and even Rosalyn coming back toward the end was an unusual thing.
But again, the strip is what it is because we're seeing the world through the eyes of one guy with all his quirks. So if he thought the strip would suffer if he tried to make it more sustainable, or if he lost any control over the public image of the characters, I have to believe him.
The guy got tired of it, that's easy to understand. It turned into a chore, he didn't need the money and didn't want to farm it out. It's like when a band stops touring and enjoys the wealth and leisure.
I think it ended at a good time. It's been a while since I've read the comics but I do distinctly remember thinking that it was feeling pretty repetitive by then.
But don't you see? Watterson had reasonable opinions, saying that he opposed commercialism in art, but NOT going overboard and calling it all corporatist fascism and anyone who does merch a fascist. So OP had nothing to generate outrage over his sad sense of humour so he had to manufacture his own.
Punk ass b***h is allergic to money.
>tfw you never get a spaceman spiff RPG
>tfw no slice of life woods adventure
>tfw no arpg hack n slash as you fight off snowmen
>not just homebrewing your own spaceman spiff RPG
basic b***h detected
STFU they would all be horrible
>goyslop
mutt detected
He's a schmuck.
Rabbis seething.
>I-is that an artist that owned his own creation and chose not to merchandise it on his own volition? MUMMY MUMMY MUMMY SAVE ME I NEED MY HOBBESY WOBSEY TOY
What if they were sexy ladies
Get over your spoiled sense of entitlement. Watterson doesn't owe you anything.
yes he does. give me my hobbes dakimakura b***h
You need a time out. Go sit in the corner while the rest of the class reads.
>goyslop
Anyone that uses this term should an hero.
Can you browse for 5 minutes without using a buzzword
Shut up, bill.
Obviously a print of a comic or a book collection of his comics are different from merchandise.
Yeah, he was always ok with books and prints are probably a technical loophole based on whatever he signed for that deal.
Why do I get the feeling OP is a /misc/tard? Is it just me?
holy based. This is so true especially today
It's amazing how fresh and universal a comic strip can hold up 30 years later if the writer is smart and insightful enough (and if he happens to have kept pop culture references to a ridiculous minimum)
I think Calvin mentions Godzilla and Batman by name, once each
Hobbes mentions Astro Boy.
It occurred to me, reading some of the preachier strips again, that it's very unusual now for creators to get preachy in a way that can't be pinned down politically.
I have no idea what Watterson's politics are because he's going on about stuff that won't change if we pass laws.
Yeah, it's hard to pin him down. I would probably put him closer to a Democrat than a Republican, since he did do a fair number of strips about the environment and what we're doing to it.
>there are two options, and all possible political beliefs fit on a linear transition between those two
>SAVE ME, TIGERMAN!
Don’t worry, anon. You can get your Calvin and Hobbes Funko Pops the day after he dies.
+70 years.
His family will immediately sell the rights
He doesn't have to give the rights to his family. He could prevent commercialization for the full copyright period if he wants.
>sues your daycare into the ground for drawing cartoon mice on the walls of your establishment for the kids
Walt Disney is a really weird guy
>tells parent their child's gravestone is not permited to be cut after they went through all the proper channels and went out of their way to kow-tow ot the rat, because a picture of Spider-Man in the middle of a graveyard goes against the personal wishes of a cartoonist who died four decades before their company had anything to do with Spider-Man, and who was in an entirely different industry altogether
>Actually supports the concept of graveyards being filled with commercial icons people were into while alive.
In general? No.
But to give closure to a parent who lost a little kid? Yeah. Sue me.
>In general? No.
>But to give closure to a parent who lost a little kid?
you allow it for ONE, and you fill the graveyard. And if it's just to get closure, bury them with their favorite toys. A lasting monument of Spidey is not "closure", it's a sentimental gesture that fades into an eye-sore.
Use your brain instead of your b***h-feelings.
>you allow it for ONE, and you fill the graveyard
My guy.
Are you even aware that the father went out of his way to have it custom designed, and then wrote in to Disney for special permission.
You think people would start mailing Disney for permission to put up Mickey graves all over the place?
For frick's sake my guy.
This story is so unique and out there, that it made the news, and you think this would become common?
Seeing what has happened to Marvel, Star Wars and less prominent brands has reinforced his point.
He would never say that because no piece of merchandise ever existed 🙂
It was a prototype with a pitch. Took 6 months to recover from it
>Hey, Bill. I'm goin' to Knott's Berry Farm. Wanna come with?
There's got to be a happy medium between Depression kid's "never turn down money ever" and Boomer kid's "everything is selling out."
But I'm not sure there is one.
Establish criteria under which merchandizing is acceptable, and stick to them.
I always think Watterson's opening paragraph from his Schulz biography review gives a window into his thinking. "Peanuts" had integrity as a strip, but so many people knew the characters from something else that was less personal.
What he wanted for C&H is what he still has, a franchise that's known almost entirely for the comic strip. If you like Calvin and Hobbes it's because you like Watterson's versions of them, and he ended the strip so early that there are barely even any "eras" to compare.
There's some disapproval of selling out, no doubt, but I think what he really wanted was for everyone to respond to his strip the way he responded to "Peanuts" and his other favorites.
And I forgot to attach the paragraph because I am dumb.
> https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB119214690326956694
Is this constantly spammed because he said "comics are dumb"?
how is this guy not a pedophile?
i mean jesus, look at that fricking mustache
Mentally ill used to see Communists everywhere, then it was Satanists and then alien Greys. Right now, it's pedophiles for the paranoid.
Frick off, the dude fricks chickens in a reading rainbow van, I know it.
Good morning sirs
>Pooping indoors? IM GOING INSANE
What's wrong with having artistic integrity? What, you're upset that he deprived you of your C&H Funkos and shitty Netflix reboot where Calvin has a smartphone that he uses to make TikToks with Hobbes?
Clavin meo
>One estimate places the value of licensing revenue forgone by Watterson at $300–$400 million.[26] Almost no legitimate Calvin and Hobbes merchandise exists.[27] Exceptions produced during the strip's original run include two 16-month calendars (1988–89 and 1989–90), a t-shirt for the Smithsonian Exhibit, Great American Comics: 100 Years of Cartoon Art (1990) and the textbook Teaching with Calvin and Hobbes,[28][29] which has been described as "perhaps the most difficult piece of official Calvin and Hobbes memorabilia to find."[30] In 2010, Watterson did allow his characters to be included in a series of United States Postal Service stamps honoring five classic American comics.
I think if you made something in this day and age and it made it big, you'd have to be moronic to NOT sell out.
It was easy for him to be all smug and cozy saying he didn't like commercialism in art when back then his society wasn't completely fricking ruined both spiritually and economically.
Well you've got the rationalizations down, now hurry and create something to sell out on.
He's a millionaire off his book collections alone, I think he's satisfied.
That reminds me, there's an omnibus I haven't picked up yet.
anyone have an explanation for the calvin pissing stickers?
Bootleg merchandise. What's there to explain?
Why Calvin pissing? Why did that catch on?
It came from this strip and I guess the original guy who made the decals thought it could be made to look like Calvin was pissing or whatever.
>Did you just say you LIKED the characters in my story that you weren't suppose to like????
>NO NO NO I DON'T WANT ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE MOVIE KEEP YOUR FLITHY WHITE SUPREMACIST MONEY!