Confirmed: Bill Watterson returns to comics as guest artist for Pearls Before Swine

Pearls Before Swine creator Stephan Pastis confirms that Calvin and Hobbes creator Bill Watterson has been a collaborating guest artist in this week’s Pearls.

Stephan recounts contacting Bill and actually getting a response back – and a suggestion for a comic idea.

So he wrote back and explained his idea.

He said he knew that in my strip, I frequently make fun of my own art skills. And that he thought it would be funny to have me get hit on the head or something and suddenly be able to draw. Then he?d step in and draw my comic strip for a few days.

That?s right.

The cartoonist who last drew Calvin and Hobbes riding their sled into history would return to the comics page.

To draw Pearls Before Swine.

Stephan writes about the collaboration and some of the challenges they faced to pull this off.

Michael Cavna has a brief interview with Bill. Bill indicates that some of the motivation to work on this collaboration was to help raise more money for Parkinson’s research with Chris Sparks, creator of Team Cul de Sac.

Bill on his motivation:

?I thought maybe Stephan and I could do this goofy collaboration and then use the result to raise some money for Parkinson?s research in honor of Richard Thompson,? Watterson tells me. ?It just seemed like a perfect convergence.?

I’ll be posting more about the charity as I learn more about it from Chris.

Congratulations to Stephan and Bill for pulling off a great comic feat. The world became a buzz again about the comics for a few days. That Richard Thompson benefits (or Parkinson’s Disease research benefits), is all the better.

You can see the full series on GoComics.com (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday)

5 thoughts on “Confirmed: Bill Watterson returns to comics as guest artist for Pearls Before Swine

  1. well done in so many ways, Parkinson’s research is making some amazing breakthroughs right now.
    If you have ever known a family who suffered from it then it becomes a cause you can’t ignore.
    We lost a creative mind in Gerry Anderson to it.
    As such in the UK and soon in the US raising both funds and awareness though the legacy of the iconic puppet show Gerry produced.
    Artistes can make a difference Bill Watterson if your out there I applaud this.. we should chat about a even more effective way to help even more in the future.

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