Bill Watterson – the Northeast Ohio creator of one of the most iconic comic strips and whose legendary vanishing act will rival any public recluse who has ever shunned the societal spotlight – has penned a book called “The Mysteries.”
Watterson wrote the book while caricaturist John Kascht created the illustrations. It has been published by Andrews McMeel Publishing, distributed by Simon & Schuster and is due Tuesday, Oct. 10.
Simon & Schuster describes it as a “fable about what lies beyond human understanding.”
In part, it says of the book: “… a long-ago kingdom is afflicted with unexplainable calamities. Hoping to end the torment, the king dispatches his knights to discover the source of the mysterious events. Years later, a single battered knight returns.”
Thanks for the reminder! Just placed my request at the library.
Shades of Lord Dunsany.
Got my copy today. Didn’t read it yet but quickly paged through my copy a little. To set expectations, it very small and short. Each page is a sentence or few words like a children’s book. I am not complaining, just letting people know
Yeah, my copy just arrived, and I read it in less than five minutes. It’s basically a picture book for grown-ups and precocious children.
The Amazon listing now has pictures of the book and a few sample pages. I don’t think they were there when I ordered it.
I’m something of a Watterson completist, so I’m glad I have it, but frankly, I was expecting, or at least hoping for, something more substantial.
I haven’t checked reviews of all of the C&H books, but I’d wager serious money sight unseen that The Mysteries has the lowest rating of any book by Watterson: 2.9 out of 5.
It was almost inevitable, unless he had released a new graphic novel about Calvin as a teenager, or some other masterwork, that anything Watterson did after a nearly 20-year hiatus would fail to meet the world’s sky-high expectations of him. So this reaction is no surprise.
You could say it makes his releasing anything at all something of an act of courage. Or, I suppose, it could be seen as a cynical cash grab. But I think Watterson sufficiently established his ethical bona fides by turning down millions in C&H merch revenue to dispel that suspicion.
If his name had not been on this book, and I had picked it up at a bookstore, I’m pretty sure I would not have bought it. But as a fan and supporter, I’m glad I own it. Will I read it over and over, as I have all of the C&H books? No.
Am I still interested in seeing something new, and hopefully more substantial, from Bill Watterson? You bet!
A video in which Watterson and Kascht talk about how they created the story and the pictures. If you don’t want to watch a 15-minute video, here’s an article that summarizes it.
I just bought it… I will have to wait for it to arrive. I’ve tempered my expectations. Even though he is not the illustrator, I’m mostly interested in the illustrations.
My top-of-the-head math was off. It’s been 28 years since the end of C&H.
I read it. It’s interesting. It reminds me of some of the long form Sunday strips he did but with more room to tell a longer story. I could see lit professors assign this as a part of a curriculum to see what people make of the theme.