Free Republic

Bill Watterson is the Bigfoot of cartooning. He is legendary. He is reclusive. And like Bigfoot, there is really only one photo of him in existence. Few in the cartooning world have ever spoken to him. Even fewer have ever met him. In fact, legend has it that when Steven Spielberg called to see if he wanted to make a movie, Bill wouldn’t even take the call. So it was with little hope of success that I set out to try and meet him last April. I was traveling through Cleveland on a book tour, and I knew that he...

CHAGRIN FALLS, Ohio (AP) - Maybe someday, officials will put up a statue marking this quaint village of 4,000 people as the birthplace of "Calvin and Hobbes." Just don't expect cartoonist Bill Watterson to attend the unveiling ceremony. It's been nearly 10 years since he abruptly quit drawing one of the most popular comic strips of all time. Since then, he's been as absent as the precocious Calvin and his pet tiger, err, stuffed animal, Hobbes. Some call Watterson reclusive. Others say he just likes his privacy. "He's an introspective person," says his mother, Kathryn, standing at the front door...

Maybe someday, officials will put up a statue marking this quaint village as the birthplace of "Calvin and Hobbes." Just don't expect cartoonist Bill Watterson to attend the unveiling ceremony. It's been nearly 10 years since he abruptly quit drawing one of the most popular comic strips of all time. Since then, he's been as absent as the precocious Calvin and his pet tiger, err, stuffed animal, Hobbes. Some call Watterson reclusive. Others say he just likes his privacy. "He's an introspective person," says his mother, Kathryn, standing at the front door her home, its yard covered by a tidy...