Bill Waterson would never want any Calvin and Hobbes coffee mugs

Ed West

  Bill Waterson ended the great run of the Calvin and Hobbes's comic strip many years ago despite it's potential for being a generational or two cash cow. Bill did not want that for his strip. he did not want to see his creation whored out like Garfield and peanuts in numerous items you would find in a Walgreens or a Wal mart. Bill felt this way although it would make him millions in licensing and he pretty much ended the strip after years of fighting the syndication print media company that distributed his comic.  

One of Bill's fears was that his comic strip Calvin and his tiger would be everywhere and Dot the office landscape in America and he particularly pointed out coffee mugs in some of his books explaining why he fought distribution of his images for corporate use. He didn't for see the Internet and that people would just create and sell the shit themselves through Ebay or Amazon. Bill knew he had something special with his comic strip from day one and fans backed this assumption up. he did not want it cheapened and used too often outside of the newspaper comic format that many people take granted. if people could gratify their Calvin and Hobbes fix through other outlets then what would be the point of drawing a daily strip. In the end Waterson couldn't take the pressure and eventually withdrew his creation totally from event he print culture but many die hards try to keep his drawn legacy and I own several Calvin and Hobbes coffee mugs to share in the offices of the Left Shark. So I really don't know why Waterson even bothered fighting his own popularity and ended his strip so dam early.