'Calvin and Hobbes' creator as absent as beloved characters

CHAGRIN FALLS, Ohio -- Maybe someday, officials will put up a statue marking this quaint village as the birthplace of "Calvin and Hobbes."\nJust 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.\nSome call Watterson reclusive. Others say he just likes his privacy.\n"He's an introspective person," said his mother, Kathryn, standing at the front door of her home, its yard covered by a tidy tangle of black-eyed Susans and other wildflowers. It's where Watterson grew up. Calvin lived there too, so to speak. Watterson used the well-kept, beige Cape Cod-style house as the model for Calvin's home.\nYou might even expect Calvin to come bounding out the door with Hobbes in tow, the screen door banging behind them. After all, the guy on the front porch kind of resembles Calvin's dad. Readers will remember him as the exasperated patent attorney who enjoyed gummy oatmeal and jogging in 20-degree weather.\nSure enough, Watterson's father, Jim, has a sheen of sweat on his neck, not from a run but from the 73-year-old's three-mile morning walk.\nWatterson has acknowledged satirizing his father, who is now a semiretired patent attorney, in the strip. Jim Watterson said whenever Calvin's dad told him that something he didn't want to do "builds character," they were words he had spoken to his cartoonist son.\nAfter "Calvin and Hobbes" ended, Jim Watterson and his son would paint landscapes together, setting up easels along the Chagrin River or other vistas. He laughed that sometimes they'd spend more time choosing a site than painting. But they haven't painted together for years.\nSo what's Watterson been up to since ending "Calvin and Hobbes"? It's tough to say.\nHis parents will say only that he's happy, but they won't say where he lives, and the cartoonist could not be reached for an interview.\nHis former editor, Lee Salem, also remains mum, saying only that as a painter Watterson started with watercolors and has evolved to oils.\n"He's in a financial position where he doesn't need to meet the deadlines anymore," Salem said.\nWatterson's parents respect -- but have no explanation for -- their son's extremely private nature. It doesn't run in the family. Kathryn is a former village councilwoman and Jim is seeking his fourth council term this fall. Their other son, Tom, is a high school teacher in Austin, Texas.\nBill Watterson, 47, hasn't made a public appearance since he delivered the commencement speech in 1990 at his alma mater, Kenyon College. But he recently welcomed some written questions from fans to promote the Oct. 4 release of the three-volume "The Complete Calvin and Hobbes," which contains every one of the 3,160 strips printed during its 10-year run.\nSalem, who edited thousands of "Calvin and Hobbes" strips at Universal Press Syndicate, said Watterson is private and media shy, not a recluse. Salem didn't want to see the strip end, but understood Watterson's decision.\n"He came to a point where he thought he had no more to give to the characters," Salem said.\n"Calvin and Hobbes" appeared in more than 2,400 newspapers during its run, one of the few strips to reach an audience that large.\nUniversal would welcome Watterson back along with "Calvin and Hobbes" or any other characters he dreams up. "He knows the door's open and he knows where we are," Salem said.