24 Years Ago Today; Bill Watterson publishes the last Calvin and Hobbes comic strip

[Jimvanhise]

27. WHY HE QUIT?

Although Watterson had stopped doing interviews he reportedly told people that he didn't want his strip to turn into a self-parody like Peanuts had become. Watterson was horrified by both the over commercialization of Peanuts and the fact that Schulz continued writing it long after he had anything to say, and continued writing it until practically the day he died. I would wince reading its declining years when the characters had nothing of interest to say and a daily gag would end with a character saying "whatever," a word which actually means nothing. But readers apparently liked that, although other professional cartoonists found it painful to see Peanuts decline. So Watterson ended on a high note but unfortunately has done nothing new since other than his recent April 1st crossover strips done for the revived Bloom County comic strip.