Why not try to meet him?

As much as I'd love to believe it, I honestly don't think he'd go in for the merchandising.

Is Bill Watterson back?

nope

I liked the romantic notion of another Richard Bachman, myself. There was some effort put into obfuscation there, I think.

oh me too- i love family circus

Is Richard Bach really Stephen King? I've been trying to confirm that one for years. I haven't searched in a while but the last few times I tried searching the net for that I came up with bupkis.


I don't think that Mallett = Watterson. Undoubtably Jef Mallett was/is inspired by Bill Watterson, but I seriously doubt that Mallett is a pen name of Watterson.

I've done some cartooning. Nothing serious. But serious enough that it's very, very difficult to even emulate a different cartoon style consistantly. It's like a signature. You just fall in to a style that works for you and it is really hard to shake that off, especially over dozens and hundreds of strips.

Sure, Frazz looks a little like Calvin. But the pen and ink work is drastically different. The caricatures are drastically different. Even the color work is different.

Watterson's color work is much more painterly, evoking watercolors and gauches. Mallett's color work is much more depth-shaded and more cartoony and less painterly - and more obviously Adobe Photoshop'ed.

They're both excellent strips. I've liked Frazz for years, and there's a lot of stuff that I love about Frazz that I loved about Calvin and Hobbes, and even Bloom County. But I think even Mallett would graciously step aside and declare Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes to be superior in a number of ways - in execution, in storylines, in style and interpretation.

There are many similarities between the strips. However, it would be entirely unfair to call Mallett's work unoriginal, because it isn't. Mallett's work definately has it's own style, and Mallet has a space he's certainly worked hard to carve out for himself. For all I care he can pour through the trade editions of Calvin and Hobbes for his inspiration, and it would be nothing but worthy flattery.

Every time I go back and read a Calvin and Hobbes book I'm pleasantly surprised with the amount of depth in the comic. Other than Bloom County or Outland, there's very few syndicated comics over the last 30-50 years that even approach the depth and artistry that Watterson was able to evoke. The finely honed sense of action, the comedic timing, the character expression.

So, no. I don't think so. It's a romantic notion, but that's probably all it is.

wedge, check your email

All of this is took place in my back yard well over a year ago. No. Bill Watterson ain't back.

I'm sure the new guy really appreciates the publicity you're giving him, though!

Loquacious, SK wrote some books as Richard Bachman, as an experiment to see whether his books would take off without his name on them.

I am quonsar

Loquacious, SK wrote some books as Richard Bachman, as an experiment to see whether his books would take off without his name on them.

And they did! Well, as soon as they were repackaged with the minor addition of "Steven King writing as" over the name Richard Bachman.

The author of that blog makes some interesting observations. Here's mine: check out the "W-W" in Frazz's hair--could these initials stand for William Watterson?


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That's totally not Bill Watterson.

Here's mine: check out the "W-W" in Frazz's hair--could these initials stand for William Watterson?

From what you can figure out about Watterson from Calvin & Hobbes (and if the introduction to the Complete C & H is any guide, he himself thought you could get some pretty accurate ideas), do you really think he'd go in for something like that? Really? 'Cause I don't.

People are seriously discussing this? Seriously?

Feh. Mallett is definitely years behind Watterson in visual terms and, yeah, pretty literal with his humor. There are some nice feints in the daily strips, tho. There's no shame in being inspired by the best, but I don't think anyone's arguing this because they really think Frazz is that good, they're arguing it out of desperation. And that ends up being an insult to Mallett.

kenko- i think he's kidding ;)

I have heard there are secret messages in this picture:

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Paul McCartney's a card-carrying member of the living undead? Ringo has an octopus porn fetish?

Ok, all you people who have been holding out on us for years start pointing to your personal archives of Frazz. 30 days worth is like the first hit being free.