BILL’S BACK, BABY

Bill Watterson of ‘Calvin & Hobbes’ to Publish Graphic Novel, His First Book in Years

Since ‘Calvin & Hobbes’ abruptly ceased publication in 1995, Bill Watterson has quietly put his pen to just a handful of projects.

In November 1995, a decade into drawing Calvin & Hobbes, cartoonist Bill Watterson abruptly announced the end of the strip, saying he was “eager to work at a more thoughtful pace, with fewer artistic compromises.” In the years since then, he’s quietly lent his pen to only a handful a projects, including a 2014 book on cartoonist Richard Thompson and a few Pearls Before Swine guest strips. So it was to the shock and delight of Calv-anaics and Hobbes-heads everywhere that publisher Simon & Schuster on Tuesday announced the forthcoming publication of The Mysteries, an illustrated “fable for grown-ups” by Watterson and famed caricaturist John Kascht, whose drawings have graced pages from The New York Times to MAD magazine. The plot of The Mysteries, a 72-page graphic novel, revolves around “a long-ago kingdom” afflicted by “unexplainable calamities,” according to Simon & Schuster. “Hoping to end the torment, the king dispatches his knights to discover the source of the mysterious events,” the description continues. “Years later, a single battered knight returns.” The Mysteries will hit shelves Oct. 10, 2023.